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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Harriet wants to be a writer, therefore she must practice. She writes down everything in her notebook, everything she sees and everything people say and do around her.I reread this book so many times as a kid. I had the movie tie-in cover which is now much loved as evidence by the very crinkled cover. I don’t remember a lot of the little details, but I have always had an affection for this book. This was probably reinforced by the movie, but to be honest, it was a great movie.
This book is a great example of what happens if you write down everything about everyone and then they find out about it. I remember the book being a lot more serious than the blurb makes it sound like. As a kid I guess these things are more dire and I just remember the feeling I experienced when the others find Harriet’s notebook. The second hand mortification I felt stays with me now. It was the most intense and climactic thing I had read since being stressed about Bastian in The Never Ending Story.
This is a timeless story because it has good lessons in it for kids, it's also highly entertaining.
A version of this review was published on my blog Lost in a Good Book
This book is a great example of what happens if you write down everything about everyone and then they find out about it. I remember the book being a lot more serious than the blurb makes it sound like. As a kid I guess these things are more dire and I just remember the feeling I experienced when the others find Harriet’s notebook. The second hand mortification I felt stays with me now. It was the most intense and climactic thing I had read since being stressed about Bastian in The Never Ending Story.
This is a timeless story because it has good lessons in it for kids, it's also highly entertaining.
A version of this review was published on my blog Lost in a Good Book
Read as a child and enjoyed.
Listened to the audiobook with my 7 yo and delighted in it again. (Also had to point out some problematic behavior and ideas- but the story was still good.)
Listened to the audiobook with my 7 yo and delighted in it again. (Also had to point out some problematic behavior and ideas- but the story was still good.)
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was a bit disappointed by how wicked Harriet was. I didn't feel there was much of a redemptive arch. I did like the quotes and loved her relationship with Sport in the book, but Harriet woudn't have been my friend younger either literary or literal.
I don't know how I raced through childhood without ever reading Harriest the Spy. It is exactly the kind of book I would have loved to read when I was 10 or 11, but now in my 30's I couldn't get past a lot of Harriet's antics that made me cringe or roll my eyes. There's honestly not any true growth for Harriet or any of the other characters for that matter. That's not something I would have missed as a child... I mean a story just needs to be fun and relatable with schoolyard conflicts and petty attitudes abounding - what more does a book need? Apparently it needs a lot more as an adult.
I did love the whole concept of observation and note-taking with a journalistic flair, even if it did play out in fairly creepy ways more than occasionally. I feel like that's something I would've loved spending my time doing; observing the happenings of the world around me and finding patterns and anomalies in people and animal's behavior.
I am glad overall I finally took the time to read the story of Harriet the Spy, but I doubt I'll read the remaining books in the series or heartily recommend it for anyone, unless they are under the age of about 12 or are just searching for a simple and quick read.
I did love the whole concept of observation and note-taking with a journalistic flair, even if it did play out in fairly creepy ways more than occasionally. I feel like that's something I would've loved spending my time doing; observing the happenings of the world around me and finding patterns and anomalies in people and animal's behavior.
I am glad overall I finally took the time to read the story of Harriet the Spy, but I doubt I'll read the remaining books in the series or heartily recommend it for anyone, unless they are under the age of about 12 or are just searching for a simple and quick read.
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
"I'm trying to feel like an onion. The closest I can get is a scallion."
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia
I'm not sure how I felt about this. In some ways I don't know that Harriet really learned anything and in some ways I feel like, in the end, she got rewarded for doing evil things. Just one of those books that is over and I feel very unsettled about.