 "A cool mystery book for kids and adults" | 2009-09-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: A32KM7310BUBG4 |
I didn't know this book is old, unless I forgot it, lol, but my siblings and I went to Barnes & Noble and I wanted a mystery book but that didn't have like murders and such hard topics. Something light and fun, and I'm glad I found it. "Harriet the Spy."
This book is a fun and entertaining read. It's original and enjoyable for people of all ages. However, I do recommend parents to read this book first before giving it to a child because this book contains some negativity which could give children bad ideas to use, such as bullying, mimic Harriet's negative writing, etc. As adults, well, no problem because we all know what is right and wrong... and hopefully you do what's right, lol, but this is a good read to pass the time or if you are a book nerd like me. :D
As Levar puts it in "reading rainbow", "You don't have to take my word for it. ;) |
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| "Dated Yet Timely" | 2009-08-02 |
| - Reviewed By jdcofield |
Harriet The Spy was first published in 1964. I loved it when I first read it as a child a few years later, and have always remembered it fondly. Harriet M. Welsch lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She leads a pampered life with parents who love her but don't spend much time with her. Her primary caregiver is her nurse, Ole Golly, who has encouraged her to write down her thoughts and observations in notebooks which will provide fodder for a writing career. Every afternoon Harriet spies on neighbors and observes their foibles. Harriet is absolutely honest when she makes a note, and this gets her into trouble when her classmates discover and read her notebook.
Harriet The Spy is about growing away from childhood things. She loses Ole Golly and has to depend on herself for the first time. She has to recognize that even though honesty is essential, sometimes you have to lie, too. By the end of the book Harriet is still 11 years old, but the reader will have a strong idea of the kind of honest, admirable woman she will become.
Harriet's world seemed strange to me when I first read it, and I suspect many of her other readers and admirers have also found it odd: large private houses and apartments staffed with servants, exclusive private schools, elegant parents who are part of High Society. But even if you don't live in a brownstone on the Upper East Side you'll still find a lot of familiar things in Harriet The Spy: growing up, loneliness, alienation, friendships made and unmade, and hardest of all, learning to accept others' differences. |
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| "As good as a tomato sandwich on a summer day" | 2009-07-21 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1L0XCCU4LPH2I |
When I was a child, my mother took me to a used book sale because I was devouring books faster than my parents' could afford to replenish them. I remember seeing a 1970's paperback edition of "Harriet the Spy" on a stack of books, and thought the girl on the cover, illustrated in that scratchy, inky style of Fitzhugh's, was the oddest girl I'd ever seen. My mom bought it for about 25 cents.
The moment I began reading this book, I knew it was different from the other children's books. I wasn't sure why, but it even made me FEEL different. Like I was being talked to as if I were an adult. This woman, Louise Fitzhugh, didn't feel the need to sugarcoat things. The characters are flawed, sad, disappointed, ornery, rich, poor, ugly, and completely identifiable. This book is full of heartache, but it has a lot of happiness and hope in it, too. And I promise your children can handle the heavy parts.
Now I'm 28 and this book continues to resonate with me. Rereading it, I've discovered even more depth in the story, but I'll always be grateful that I first read it as a child, when the impact means so much more.
And tomato sandwiches continue to be my favorite. |
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 "No Fun from Beginning to End" | 2009-02-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: AFRVPSMT6CSJY |
I had high hopes for Harriet, but how can anyone like, let alone want to spend 300 hundred pages with, such a wretched little brat. She's so boring and self-centered and just writes in her pathetic little spy book all day; where's the action? Action? Sorry, not with this book.
For those stuck in a temporarily selfish rut in their lives (hey all of us fall into it from time to time), or for those who feel like they are currently doing everything for everyone else and nothing for themselves, perhaps this book has some worth. For they may be able to relate to Harriet's anger and resentment at the whole world. But a hero? Hardly; Harriet has more of the qualities of a villain. Please look at the other 1 and 2 star reviews for other reasons to avoid this train wreck.
For those looking for a kids book with a female heroine that got it right, try Matilda by Roald Dahl, From the Mixed Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler by Konisburg or Inkheart by Funke. All heroines with some anger issues, but dealt with by much more talented authors.
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| "An Exciting Book that Happens in New York City" | 2009-01-13 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
The book is a novel about a girl named Harriet and her two best friends Sport and Beth Ellen. Harriet is a spy. She wants to write about everyone. She writes about her friends and classmates too. But Harriet loses her notebook and all her friends read all the good and bad stuff she wrote about them. Will she ever see her notebook again? Well, I am not going to tell you so read the book your self to find out!
It all happens in New York City on the East side in a fancy apartment building. I think Louise Fitzhugh is trying to say that you should not write about your friends in a mean way or maybe they will not be your friends any more. I love this book and I hope you like it too. I like the middle where everything exciting happens but I will not tell you because it gives it away the ending. But I will say that it is one of my favorite books and that some of the entries are so funny. Here is an example: "I bet that lady weighs 100 pounds and is a super model and feels terrible with not that munch food!"
And that's all I am going to tell you! This book is 300 pages so I think that people between the ages of 7-100 who love spies would like this book the most!
by Elizabeth |
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| "Works On Many Levels" | 2008-12-31 |
| - Reviewed By User: A32QJ08JEFO1AA |
Harriet The Spy was one of my favorites growing up and I had not read it in a long time and looking back I am not quite sure if all of the messages and meanings in the book can be fully understood by younger readers completely.
That is not meant in a bad way at all, the book works as a general reading book for younger more advanced readers in terms of the plot and Harriet as she goes through her life and journal, together with the ramifications of what those bring when the journal is discovered.
Of course young readers can relate to the feelings and the alienation, but there are so many messages that are being converyed that some of the them become clearer to see as you get a bit older - in other words this works for young readers on one or more levels and as an adult you can read it and see more of the depth of the messages being told.
For younger readers, it may be a good idea to read this first so you can be prepared to speak with the issues and questions that can be raised and to help guide them along in learning how to read and interpret what is going on. |
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