''Harriet the Spy'' is a children's novel written and illustrated by
Louise Fitzhugh that was published in
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
. It has been called "a milestone in children's literature" and a "classic".
In the U.S., it ranked number 12 in the 50 Best Books for Kids and number 17 in the Top 100 Children's Novels on two lists generated in 2012.
[
It was followed by two "companion books", the sequels, '']The Long Secret
''The Long Secret'' is a children's novel written and illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh that was released by Harper & Row on October 27, 1965. It is a sequel or "companion" to ''Harriet the Spy'' (1964), the only one published during Fitzhugh's life ...
'' (1965) and ''Sport'' (1979).
Plot summary
Eleven-year-old Harriet M. Welsch is an aspiring writer who lives in New York City's Upper East Side
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street (Man ...
. Encouraged by her nanny, "Ole Golly", Harriet observes others and writes her thoughts down in a notebook as practice for her future career. Several standalone episodes highlight the various eccentric characters she meets on her afternoon "spy route".
Harriet's best friends are Simon "Sport" Rocque, a serious boy who wants to be a certified public accountant
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...
or a ball player, and Janie Gibbs, who wants to be a scientist. Harriet's enemies in her class are Marion Hawthorne, the teacher's pet and self-appointed queen bee
A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female ( gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are develope ...
, and Marion's best friend, Rachel Hennessy.
Harriet's life changes abruptly when Ole Golly's suitor, Mr. Waldenstein, proposes and she accepts. Harriet is crushed by the loss of her nanny. Her mother and father are at a loss to understand Harriet's feelings and are of little comfort to her.
At school, during a game of tag, Harriet loses her notebook. Her classmates find it and are appalled at her brutally honest documentation of her opinions of them. The students form a "Spy Catcher Club" in which they think up ways to make Harriet's life miserable, such as stealing her lunch and passing nasty notes about her in class. In return, Harriet regularly spies on the Spy Catcher Club through a back fence and concocts vengeful ways to punish them. After getting into trouble for carrying out some of her plans, Harriet unsuccessfully tries to resume her friendships with Sport and Janie as if nothing had ever happened. When Harriet's grades go down, her parents confiscate her notebook, which only depresses her further.
Harriet's mother takes her daughter to see a child psychiatrist
Child and adolescent psychiatry (or pediatric psychiatry) is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders in children, adolescents, and their families. It investigates the biopsychosocial fact ...
, who advises Harriet's parents to get in touch with Ole Golly and ask her to write to Harriet. In her letter, Ole Golly tells Harriet that ''if'' anyone ever reads her notebook, "you have to do two things, and you are not going like either one of them. 1: You have to apologize. 2: You have to lie. Otherwise you are going to lose a friend."
Meanwhile, dissension is rippling through the Spy Catcher Club. Marion and Rachel are calling all the shots, and Sport and Janie are tired of being bossed around. When they quit the club, most of their classmates do the same.
Harriet's parents speak with her teacher and the headmistress, and Harriet is appointed editor of the class newspaper, replacing Marion. The newspaper—featuring stories about the people on Harriet's spy route and the students' parents—becomes an instant success. Harriet also uses the paper to print a retraction of the things she had written in her journal. Harriet is forgiven by Sport and Janie.
Reception
The book appeared on a 1964 list of "The Year's Best Juveniles" in ''The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read ...
''. One 1965 reviewer called the book "a brilliantly written, unsparing realistic story, a superb portrait of an extraordinary child". Another reviewer found that it "captures the feelings, thoughts and situations of a modern city child with remarkable clarity and dimension". Nevertheless, at least one reviewer in 1965 felt that the book dealt with "disagreeable people and situations". Although it was not chosen as one of the American Library Association (ALA) Notable Books for Children for 1964, years later it was included in a retrospective 1960–1964 ALA Notable Books List.[
It won a Sequoyah Book Award in 1967. The paperback version was selected as one of the "Best in the Field" published during the previous 16 months in a 1968 ''New York Times'' article. In 1995, ]Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
and Nickelodeon Movies
Nickelodeon Movies is the film production arm of American children's network Nickelodeon and the family film distribution label of Paramount Pictures launched on February 25, 1995 and based in Los Angeles, California.
The division has earned ...
claimed that 2.5 million copies of the book had been sold; however, the book did not appear on a 2001 ''Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' list of "hardcovers that have sold 750,000 copies and paperbacks that have topped the one million copy mark."
Whitney Matheson wrote on the ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...
'' site in 2002 that Harriet "attracts dedicated, lifelong supporters". Anita Silvey
Anita Silvey is an author, editor, and literary critic in the genre of children’s literature. Born in 1947 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Silvey has served as Editor-in-Chief of ''The Horn Book Magazine'' and as vice-president at Houghton Miffli ...
in 2004 selected it as one of the 100 best books for children. In 2005, the ex-CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
officer Lindsay Moran
Lindsay Moran (born 18 December 1969) is a former clandestine officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. She is a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''USA Today''. In 2005, she p ...
cited the ''Harriet the Spy'' series of books as an inspiration for her career. It was included in a 2009 list of "Children’s Classics" by ''The Horn Book Magazine
''The Horn Book Magazine'', founded in Boston in 1924, is the oldest bimonthly magazine dedicated to reviewing children's literature. It began as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietres ...
''.
In 2012, ''Harriet the Spy'' was ranked number 17 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by ''School Library Journal
''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...
''. Earlier that year, '' Time Out New York Kids'' ranked it number 12 among the "50 Best Books for Kids". Late in 2015, the same source ranked it number 34 in the "73 best kids' books of all time for families".[Bird, Elizabeth, and the editors (September 15, 2015)]
"The 73 best kids' books of all time for families"
0 to 37 ''Time Out New York Kids'' (timeout.com). Retrieved October 27, 2015.
Despite its popularity, the book has been banned from some schools and libraries "because it was said to set a bad example for children".[ Along with '' Are You There God?'', '']Blubber
Blubber is a thick layer of vascularized adipose tissue under the skin of all cetaceans, pinnipeds, penguins, and sirenians.
Description
Lipid-rich, collagen fiber-laced blubber comprises the hypodermis and covers the whole body, except ...
'', and ''Where the Sidewalk Ends
''Where the Sidewalk Ends'' is a 1974 children's poetry collection written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein. It was published by Harper and Row Publishers. The book's poems address many common childhood concerns and also present purely fanci ...
'', the book was challenged at a 1983 school-board meeting in Xenia, Ohio
Xenia ( ) is a city in southwestern Ohio and the county seat of Greene County, Ohio, United States. It is east of Dayton and is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area, as well as the Miami Valley region. The name comes from the Greek ...
. Proponents of the Xenia ban stated that the book "teaches children to lie, spy, back-talk, and curse", but the board voted to keep the books in the school libraries.[
]
Selected translations
* ''Harriet - Spionage aller Art'' (German, 1968)
* ''Harriet l'Espionne'' (French, 1980)
* הרייט המרגלת (Hebrew, 1984, )
* ''Professione? Spia!'' (Italian, 1989, )
* スパイになりたいハリエットのいじめ解決法 / ''Supai ni naritai harietto no ijime kaiketsuhō'' (Japanese, 1995, )
* ''A Espiã'' (Portuguese, 1999, )
* ''Spiunia Harrietë'' (Albanian, 2016, )
Series
Fitzhugh wrote two sequels to the book: ''The Long Secret
''The Long Secret'' is a children's novel written and illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh that was released by Harper & Row on October 27, 1965. It is a sequel or "companion" to ''Harriet the Spy'' (1964), the only one published during Fitzhugh's life ...
'' (1965) and ''Sport'' (1979, published posthumously). Both books received mixed reviews.
''Sport'' is a spin-off
Spin-off may refer to:
*Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity
* Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...
that focuses on Simon "Sport" Rocque, expanding upon his brief family background covered in ''Harriet the Spy''. As his parents are divorced, Sport lives with his father, who is a struggling writer who has been focusing on a book (a big gamble) rather than the steady income of journal/newspaper articles, with Sport managing their finances. Their financial problems are exacerbated once Sport's grandfather Simon Vane (from his mother's side) becomes terminally ill and stops sending regular payments to Sport. Things change for the better once Sport's father meets the kind Kate, who becomes a good stepmother. However, Simon's will has named Sport as the main beneficiary to the $30 million family fortune, much to the chagrin of Sport's mother Charlotte Vane and her sister. Charlotte, an absentee mother who has been living well abroad in Europe most of the time, returns to New York City upon hearing of her father's illness, scheming to increase her share of Simon's inheritance by kidnapping Sport and imprisoning him in the Plaza Hotel for a week.
In 2002, a sequel ''Harriet Spies Again'' appeared; written by Helen Ericson, it also received mixed reviews. Another sequel, ''Harriet the Spy, Double Agent'' by Maya Gold, was published in 2005; one review of that book stated "there's not much to interest readers here."
* ''Harriet the Spy'' (Harper & Row, 1964); also ''Harriet, the Spy''
* ''The Long Secret'' (Harper & Row, 1965)
* ''Sport'' (Dell Publishing/Delacorte Press
Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and s ...
, 1979), Fitzhugh
* ''Harriet Spies Again'' (Dell/Delacorte, 2002), Helen Ericson nd Fitzhugh* ''Harriet the Spy, DoubleAgent'' (Dell/Delacorte, 2005), Maya Gold and Fitzhugh
Adaptations
Film rights to the novel were bought by Herbert Swope in 1964. ''Harriet the Spy'' was made into a 1996 film of the same name. It starred Michelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Trachtenberg (; born October 11, 1985) is an American actress and model. Trachtenberg began her career at age three, appearing in a number of commercials, films, and television series as a child. Her starring role on the Nickelodeon tel ...
and was the first film to be produced by Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
's feature film division.
In September 2004, Mainframe Entertainment announced that Protocol Entertainment
Protocol Entertainment is a Canadian television production company that was founded in 1993. It is based in Toronto, Ontario.
Films and series
* ''Animorphs''
* '' Code Name: Eternity''
* '' Dinner Along the Amazon''
* ''Goosebumps''
* ''Mama' ...
will produce a new ''Harriet the Spy'' live-action television series, consisting of at least 22 half-hour episodes, with 2 Friends Entertainment acting as executive producers and US sales agent and Mainframe retaining international distribution rights.
In March 2010, Disney Channel aired a version of the story, '' Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars''. This starred ''Wizards of Waverly Place
''Wizards of Waverly Place'' is an American fantasy teen sitcom created by Todd J. Greenwald that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between October 2007 and January 2012. The series centers on Alex Russo (Selena Gomez), a teenage w ...
'' cast member Jennifer Stone as Harriet, Alexander Conti from ''Cheaper by the Dozen 2
''Cheaper by the Dozen 2'' is a 2005 American family comedy film directed by Adam Shankman. It is a sequel to the 2003 film '' Cheaper by the Dozen'' and stars Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Tom Welling, Piper Perabo, and Hilary Duff, among other chi ...
'' as Harriet's friend Sport, and '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''s Melinda Shankar
Melinda Leanna Shankar (born February 18, 1992) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for starring as Alli Bhandari in the television series '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' (2008-2015) and as Indira "Indie" Mehta in the YTV series ''How ...
as Janie. In this film, Harriet competes against Marion Hawthorne to see who has a better blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
.
In August 2020, Apple TV+
Apple TV+ is an American subscription streaming service owned and operated by Apple Inc. Launched on November 1, 2019, it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service was announced ...
announced it had given the production a series order for an animated television adaptation of the novel. The series was to be produced by The Jim Henson Company
The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for ...
and Rehab Entertainment with Will McRobb
Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi are a team of American show-creators, writers and producers of television and screenwriters.
They are best known as the co-creators of the award-winning and critically acclaimed Nickelodeon television series ''The A ...
as writer, Sidney Clifton as producer, and Terissa Kelton and John W. Hyde as executive producers, and starring Beanie Feldstein as Harriet, Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series ''Glee'' (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recogn ...
as Ole Golly, and Lacey Chabert
Lacey Nicole Chabert ( ; born September 30, 1982) is an American actress. One of her first roles was playing Erica Kane's daughter on ''All My Children''. She was the third actress to play Bianca Montgomery, playing the part from 1992 until 1993. ...
as Marion Hawthorne. The series was released on November 19, 2021.
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harriet The Spy
1964 American novels
American comedy novels
American children's novels
American mystery novels
American novels adapted into films
Harper & Row books
Novels about writers
Novels set in New York City
1964 children's books
American novels adapted into television shows
Literary characters introduced in 1964