spauffwrites 's review for:

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

4.0

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Even as an adult, I still love this book, especially how well Fitzhugh writes Harriet and captures the voice of late childhood. Harriet M. Welsch wants to be a writer when she grows up, so following the advice of her nanny, Ole Golly, she writes down everything she sees in her spy notebooks. Her classmates, her friends, her family and people on her neighborhood spy route all become subject to Harriet's sharp, funny and brutally honest observations. But when Ole Golly leaves and Harriet's friends discover her spy notebooks, Harriet must deal with their retaliation. I've kept journals all my life, so I always side with Harriet when I read this book. Journals are private and often full of feelings written in the heat of the moment; you learn from your naive observations as you get older. The ending always leaves me wondering what happened to Harriet when she grew up. I hope she became a writer.