Harriet the Spy
by Louise Fitzhugh
List Price:
Our Price: $2.85
You Save: $3.65 (56%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Louise FitzhughEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2001-05-08
ISBN: 0440416795
Number of pages: 320
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Publisher: Yearling
Book Reviews of Harriet the Spy
Book Review: Caution: darkness and complexity ahead
Summary: 1 Stars
Just a cautionary note to parents. This isn't a "fun" or innocent book for younger children, as you might imagine from a cursory look, or from what you might glean from the title and packaging. We got a few chapters into to before my daughter asked (begged) me to stop reading it. A lot of it is just downright mean, and not in any helpful sense. On reflection, why would we want to introduce young kids to such themes as alienation, existentialism, class warfare, entitlement, and on and on? Can't we allow them a few years of innocence and fun before the onslaught of the teenage turmoil and adulthood? And some of the effort to introduce complexity comes across as risible. I mean quoting Dostoesky? Honestly, how pretentious. If you want darkness, stimulation, character development, and excellent writing in a completely original imaginative landscape then try the Guardians of Ga'hoole series. My 8-year old has read the first seven volumes and can't put them down.
Summary of Harriet the Spy
Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. In her notebook, she writes down everything she knows about everyone, even her classmates and her best friends. Then Harriet loses track of her notebook, and it ends up in the wrong hands. Before she can stop them, her friends have read the always truthful, sometimes awful things she's written about each of them. Will Harriet find a way to put her life and her friendships back together?Ages 8-12. Thirty-two years before it was made into a movie, Harriet the Spy was a groundbreaking book: its unflinchingly honest portrayal of childhood problems and emotions changed children's literature forever. Happily, it has neither dated nor become obsolete and remains one of the best children's novels ever written. The fascinating story is about an intensely curious and intelligent girl, who literally spies on people and writes about them in her secret notebook, trying to make sense of life's absurdities. When her classmates find her notebook and read her painfully blunt comments about them, Harriet finds herself a lonely outcast. Fitzhugh's writing is astonishingly vivid, real and engaging, and Harriet, by no means a typical, loveable heroine, is one of literature's most unforgettable characters. School Library Journal wrote, "a tour de force... bursts with life." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books called it "a very, very funny story." And The Chicago Tribune raved, "brilliantly written... a superb portrait of an extraordinary child."
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics for Hungry Young Readers
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: 10th Anniversary Edition (Harry Potter)by J.K. Rowling
Scholastic Inc.; Published: 2008-09-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.67
Price in other shops:
The City of Emberby Jeanne Duprau
Random House Childrens Books; Published: 2003-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.00
The Giverby Lois Lowry
Ingram Book & Distributor; Laurel Leaf; Published: 2002-09-10; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.74
Price in other shops:
A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1)by Ursula K. Le Guin
Spectra; Published: 2004-09-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.22
Price in other shops:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Movie Tie-in Edition (rack) (Narnia)by C. S. Lewis
HarperFestival; Published: 2005-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.44
Price in other shops:
Holesby Louis Sachar
Random House Children's Books; Published: 2000; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.36
Tuck Everlastingby Natalie Babbitt
Square Fish; Published: 2007-08-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.25
Price in other shops:
Bridge to Terabithiaby Katherine Paterson
HarperTeen; Published: 2005-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.13
Price in other shops:
A Wrinkle in Timeby Madeleine L'Engle
Square Fish; Published: 2007-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.14
Price in other shops:
Island of the Blue Dolphinsby Scott O'Dell
Listening Library (Audio); Published: 2005-05-10; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $11.41
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Borrowersby Mary Norton
Sandpiper; Published: 2003-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.52
Price in other shops:
Where the Red Fern Growsby Wilson Rawls, Wilson Rawls
Yearling; Published: 1996-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.09
Price in other shops:
Mr. Popper's Penguinsby Richard Atwater, Florence Atwater
Little, Brown Young Readers; Published: 1992-11-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Price in other shops:
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles 30th Anniversary Editionby Julie Andrews Edwards
HarperCollins; Published: 1989-10-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.03
Price in other shops:
A Wrinkle in Timeby Madeleine L'Engle
Square Fish; Published: 2007-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.70
Price in other shops:
The Long Secret (Harriet the Spy)by Louise Fitzhugh
Yearling; Published: 2002-03-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.88
Price in other shops:
The Cricket in Times Square (Chester Cricket and His Friends)by George Selden
Square Fish; Published: 2008-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.13
Price in other shops:
Island of the Blue Dolphinsby Scott O'Dell
Yearling; Published: 1987-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.19
Price in other shops:
The Phantom Tollboothby Norton Juster
Bullseye Books; Published: 1988-10-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.10
Price in other shops:
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweilerby E.L. Konigsburg
INGRAM BOOK & DISTRIBUTOR; Aladdin; Published: 1998-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.15
Price in other shops: