“Harriet the Spy” - Louise Fitzhugh

 📓 Harriet is the eavesdropper extraordinaire I fondly recall from when I read this story in fourth grade. Reading it with my kids was great fun for all of us.

📓 To my surprise, I learned that HTS was banned by some school districts variously for encouraging children to be disrespectful towards adults, or for being overly dark. 

📓 HTS is an entertaining story and conversation-starter. Fitzhugh paints a picture of life as it is, when things aren’t always rosy, and she opens up topics such as strong feelings, the complexities of middle school social interactions, and coping with change. My kids alternately howled with laughter, or their eyes grew wide at Harriet’s antics. They related to her indignant voice when confronted by condescending adults.

📓 Harriet’s parents are distant though loving. Her beloved nanny suddenly departs. She is a precocious, unflinchingly honest, and often caustic observer of life through her 6th grader’s eyes. She is overwhelmed when the social order in her classroom suddenly shifts.

📓 Harriet’s caustic observations inspired comments from the boys about hurtfulness; particularly her jibes at the physical appearance of others. I felt like they learned alongside Harriet that not everyone lives the way they do. As Ole Golly says, there are “as many ways to live as there are people on the earth”.

📓 Re-reading HTS as an adult, I was struck by how progressive it was for a novel published in 1964, in regards to mental health. Harriet’s parents enlist the help of a psychologist to sort out her suddenly defiant behavior. The therapist, her parents, and her teachers join forces to offer Harriet a creative outlet that encourages her to write, rather than taking away her notebooks as a punishment.

📓 Sanjay (8): “I loved it, especially the ending.” When looking at the illustrations, Sanjay said “everyone looks different than in my head. Except for Harriet.”

📓 Ashwin (11): “Is there a sequel? We have to read it next.”

NB. Ashwin had concerns about a line comparing a child raising their hand to a Nazi salute (in its crispness) and another line that suggested a barrage of questions was gestapo-like. 2021 vision could do without these comparisons in a children’s book.  Not all references age well.

Recommended: 3rd-6th grade