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Summary: The Spy named Harriet
Review: "Could Ole Golly have a family, how could she have a mother and a father? She is too old." Harriet the Spy by L. Fitzhugh takes place in Harriet's neighborhood. Harriet writes about her nanny Ole Golly mostly. Harriet is the protagonist who wants to be a writer when she grows up she writes mean things about her friends and family. Later on she looses her notebook. Will her friends find her notebook and the mean things she wrote about them?
Harriet the spy is funny and intriguing book because it makes you want to read it. The author shows this book to be intriguing because a 10 year old girl is sneaking into peoples houses and writing about them in her note book. You should read this book because it is descriptive. The author shows that because you can see an image of her sneaking into people's houses. You also should read this book because the style of the story is creative. The author shows that it is creative by using dialogue, things she wrote in her notebook, and even letters which help the reader understand the story better.
Now you have read the reasons and explanations, get out of your chair and read this book!
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Summary: A Fabulous Book
Review: (...) I have read the whole book of Harriet the Spy and as long as long as I live, I will love this book. This is the best book I have ever read, because it has very vivid writing and you can almost hear Harriet thinking and see what Harriet is doing (what everybody is doing). Harriet learns two things: First, sometimes you need to lie to your friends in order to keep them your friends. Second, friends are very important. I could read this book a thousand times more and not get bored with it. I would recommend over 70 people reading this book a month.
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Summary: A GREAT childrens classic!
Review: I absolutely LOVED this book when I was a child. I think like many other reviewers, I responded to the book because I identified with Harriet as a somewhat odd, intellectual, socially awkward child. Harriet was my heroine because of her perseverance and her integrity, and her detached sense of being an observer of the world. In the 60's and 70's, such complex portaits of the world of children were unusual (Judy Blume came a little later, and was also a favorite). I started eating tomato sandwiches every day for lunch, formed a spy club with my friends (I was always Harriet, of course), bought a composition notebook and took notes in BIG BLOCK LETTERS, just like Harriet.
One caveat: Reading the book again as an adult with my young daughter, it seems much more negative than I'd remembered. Harriet lacks empathy or compassion for the feelings of her friends; her parents are neglectful and incompetent; the departure of her beloved nurse, Ole Golly, seems much more intimately connected to her later troubles. My daughter asked pointed questions about these issues. Thankfully, the detached parenting portrayed in the book (not only by Harriet's parents, but also those of her friends) is dated today. On the other hand, the portrayals of the characters are still as vivid and lively as I'd remembered, and the book is still very very funny.
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Summary: read this now book review
Review: I first knew about Harriet the Spy in 5th grade when the movie came out. I was entranced, enthralled and totally taken with such a moving film (no wonder it's called "One of the best children's movies ever!"), and I bought the book later that week - along with Fitzhugh's sequel The Long Secret. I became a "child spy" like Harriet because I found her lifestyle amazing, and Louise Fitzhugh is an excellent writer. Harriet the Spy sparkles as one of literature's best children's novels!
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Summary: There's a girl who leads a life of danger
Review: I have a theory about "Harriet the Spy". I suspect that no adult that read this book once (and only once) as a child remembers it correctly. For example, if you had asked me, prior to rereading it, what the plot of "Harriet the Spy" was, I could have summed it up like so: Harriet the Spy is about a girl who wants to be a spy. She spies on lots of different people and writes in a notebook, but one day all her friends read the notebook and none of them like her anymore. That is the plot of "Harriet the Spy". And I would be half right. Surprising to me, I found I was forgetting much much more.In truth, "Harriet the Spy" is about class, loss, and being true to one's own self. Harriet M. Welch (the M. was her own invention) is the daughter of rather well-to-do socialites. Raised by her nurse Ole Golly until the ripe old age of eleven, Harriet must come to terms with Ole Golly's eventual abandonment. Ole Golly marries and leaves Harriet to her own devices just as the aforementioned tragedy involving her friends and the notebook occurs. The combination of the nurse's disappearance from Harriet's life (leaving behind such oh-so helpful pieces of advice as, "Don't cry", and the like) and the subsequent hatred directed at Harriet by her former friends makes Harriet into a veritable she-devil. A willful child from the start (punishments are few and far between in the Welch family) Harriet slowly spirals downward until a helpful note from Ole Golly gives her the advice she needs to carry on. So many things about this book appeal to kids. The realistic nature of peer interactions is one. Harriet randomly despises various kids, even before her notebook is read. After making their lives terrible, she eventually has to experience what they themselves have had to deal with. Author Louise Fitzhugh is such a good writer, though, that even as you disapprove of Harriet's more nasty tendencies you sympathize with her. Honestly, who would want ink dumped down their back? As Harriet observes various people on her spy route, she writes her observations about them as well as about life itself. She hasn't quite figured out the differences between her life and the life of her best friend Sport (the son of an impoverished irresponsible writer) though she does briefly ponder if she herself is rich (the fact that she has her own private bath, nurse, and family cook never quite occurs to her). On the whole, the book contains a multitude of wonderful characters. Harriet's parents are both amusing and annoying, completely dedicated to their daughter and completely clueless about her needs. I was especially shocked by a section of the book in which Harriet asks her mother if she'll be allowed to eat dinner with her parents that night. Gaah! Accompanying the text are Fitzhugh's own meticulous line drawings. They're fantastic and eerie. Combined with this timeless story (timeless in all the good ways) the book deserves its status as one of the best books for children. Read it again to remember. You'll find a whole lot more than you bargained for.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost there...
Review: I'm going against the grain by not saying I am completely thrilled by this book. I think the real problems lies in the fact that I read this book as an adult and not a child. Don't get me wrong... Harriet is a great young female character, especially considering the era she was first written in. She's unabashedly smart, clever, creative, independent, goal-oriented, and realistically complex. Her story is believable, and I am sure these are reasons why the book appeals to people. This book is also humorous and very well written. I guess the only reason this book leaves a slightly bad taste, for me, is that it is lacking in compassion, in real heart. Harriet hurts people through her actions and really does not seem to learn a lesson in the long run. The dangerous lesson I feel I got from this novel isn't about how to treat people, but rather to tell people what they want to hear and to do what you will, just don't get caught. This story really is worth reading, especially for girls, but I warn that maybe a little supervision is needed to add a little kindness to an otherwise worthy story.
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Summary: Children's book at it's best
Review: Louise Fitzbaugh's book involves an 11 year old girl with a fiercely independent streak who doesn't realize how dependent on others she actually is. Her goal is to become a world famous spy and considers herself "working" when she wanders around the city spying on others and recording all of her observations in her notebook. What she discovers through her travels is how others can be hurt by her words and also how much she needs her friends and family despite her initial opinion that she needs no one but herself.
Fitzbaugh's writing pulls the reader into the story and allows you to identify with exactly what the main character, Harriet, is experiencing and feeling. It is a perfect encapsulation of exactly how a girl that age is feeling and the range of emotions young girls deal with as they are trying desparately to join the adult world while retaining their childhood fun.
This book will be enjoyed by readers of all ages.
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Summary: I memorized entire chapters: "Harriet" is amazing.
Review: My aunt gave "Harriet" to me when I was seven years old. I instantly fell in love. I took the yellowed hardcover with me everywhere. I memorized entire chapters. To this day, it's one of the best books I've ever encountered. It inspired me to keep writing into a stronger place. I was the kid with the notebook when I was little, estranged by my one-time friends, busy with a leaky fountain pen. To love is to truly accept. "Harriet the Spy" continues to amaze me. Truly the best buy for aspiring writers who need a little extra. Loneliness is everywhere in this society, and the vivid descriptions and observations of this eleven year old are so full of advice and wisdom that all ages can benefit with a little understanding. If you have not read this book-- do it. The loss of friends, growing up, being alone, coping are so usual that they don't receive enough attention. This was the book I plunged into when I was depressed. Find room on your bookshelf. This is a real keeper. Harriet is not only a very accurate character, but a loveable and intense young woman. We've all been misunderstood-- this is the path to understanding.
Rating:
Summary: Quite good
Review: This book is an excellent read for children, the story of Harriet is not one to be missed. She, as a determined spy set for a career in writing, finds herself going through her spy route daily, and keeping her notebook jam-packed with personal notes about everything and everyone. Her life turns upside down however, when one day her classmates find her private notebook, and start to read all of her notes inside - about them! Harriet's never-around mother and father are not a lot of help as the situation gets out of hand for Harriet, and even her best friends Janie and Simon are against her. Though I loved this book when I was younger, re-reading it made me see the quite flat perspective and the almost completely camera angle made this book not quite as enjoyable as it had been when I was younger. However, still a very refreshing read for all!
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Summary: A Classic That Now Seems Dated
Review: This is the story of a rich little 11 year old girl named Harriet who lives in a big mansion in New York with her parents, her nanny, and a cook. Harriet likes to spy on the people in her neighborhood all the time and then writes her observations about them in her journal notebook. Most of her observations, however true, are generally mean or unflattering.
Once the nanny leaves, Harriet and her parents are forced to take on some additional responsibilities. Harriet has a hard time adjusting to this and starts writing incessantly in her journal. At one point her parent's have to take her to see a psychiatrist. He shows Harriet that if she spends all of her time writing everything down in her notebook that she won't really be living life, but rather only observing it. Once Harriet's notebook is taken away from her for a time, she is then forced to learn to balance her time better between living and observing. This takes time however as she first goes through a little rebellious phase.
Harriet then runs into trouble at school when her notebook falls into the wrong hands and everyone at school reads the mean comments she has been making about them all. (Rather than taking the notebook back from them however and saying that it didn't below to them, she let's them keep it instead.) Based on the things she had said, her two best friends Janie and a boy named Sport no longer want to play with her and instead join up with a bunch of other kids in the school in order to form the "Spy Catchers Club". The initial main purpose of the club is to get back at Harriet for all of the mean things she has said about them all in her notebook, but it then turns into a social club. The club works for a while to break a lot of people out of the dull molds they were in, but then most of them revert back to the way they had always behaved.
In the end, in order to get her friends back Harriet learns that sometimes you have to tell a little white lie in order not to hurt other people's feelings. She also discovers that her talent for writing might be better served as a newspaper reporter rather than as a military spy.
A women who works in my department and used to be a 5th grade teacher around 30 years ago, told me that her students used to love this book. My girls who are now ages eight and six however didn't find the book quite as entertaining. Maybe it would have been better for them to have read it when they were a little older, but I really don't think the content was over their head since they've enjoyed other similar types of books in the past. One reason for the differences in opinion might be that the book was written in 1964 by Louise Fitzhugh and unfortunately now seems to be dated. One example that comes to mind is that Harriet's best friend Janie, who wants to become a mad scientist when she grows up is always doing things like threatening to blow up the school, or burning holes in her floor in her room at home with chemicals. (I just don't think that type of behavior would be considered quite so funny in today's environment.) The illustrations in this book which I believe were drawn by Louise Fitzhugh herself were also probably not the best I've ever seen. I don't believe we will be picking up the other books that follow in this series, or in any rush for that matter to go out and see the movie based on this book.
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