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| Author: Louise Fitzhugh |
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| Format: | Paperback | |||
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Product Summary
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Yearling Books
ISBN-10: 0440416795
ISBN-13: 9780440416791
Buy.com Sku: 30607808
Publish Date: 5/1/2001
Pages:
320
Age Range:
13 to 16
See more in School & Education
Harriet was trying to explain to Sport how to play Town. "See, first you make up the name of the town. Then you write down the names of all the people who live in it. You can't have too many or it gets too hard. I usually have twenty-five." (from the first line)
| Harriet, would-be writer and avid observer of life, records everything she sees and hears. But what is she to do after her treasured notebook falls into the wrong hands? |
Annotation:
Harriet M. Welsch is an 11-year-old girl who spends her days going to school, playing with friends, and spying on strangers. Determined to be a spy/writer when she grows up, Harriet records her brutally honest thoughts and observations in a series of notebooks. A groundbreaking work, HARRIET THE SPY features a female main character who, although bossy, cynical, and rude, is also likeable and sympathetic. As a result, Harriet is one of the most fully realized, authentic characters to appear in print--certainly one of the first such characters to appear in a book written for children. Published in 1964, HARRIET THE SPY heralded the introduction of realism into the heretofore sweet and innocent world of children's literature and ultimately led the way for such other books as S.E. Hinton's THE OUTSIDERS and Judy Blume's ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET.
Harriet M. Welsch is an 11-year-old girl who spends her days going to school, playing with friends, and spying on strangers. Determined to be a spy/writer when she grows up, Harriet records her brutally honest thoughts and observations in a series of notebooks. A groundbreaking work, HARRIET THE SPY features a female main character who, although bossy, cynical, and rude, is also likeable and sympathetic. As a result, Harriet is one of the most fully realized, authentic characters to appear in print--certainly one of the first such characters to appear in a book written for children. Published in 1964, HARRIET THE SPY heralded the introduction of realism into the heretofore sweet and innocent world of children's literature and ultimately led the way for such other books as S.E. Hinton's THE OUTSIDERS and Judy Blume's ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET.
Author Bio
Louise Fitzhugh
Louise Fitzhugh is credited with creating a character who changed the face of children's literature. HARRIET THE SPY (1964) marked the beginning of modern realistic fiction for children, as its main character, 11-year-old Harriet M. Welsh, is considerably more cynical and less intellectually innocent than characters previously found in children's books. The book was criticized for its presentation of adults as often ineffectual. Fitzhugh attended several colleges but never received a degree. She also studied at the Art Student League and Cooper Union. In addition to HARRIET THE SPY, Fitzhugh also created picture books and other novels, two of which--THE LONG SECRET and SPORT--also feature Harriet.
Chicago Tribune
"Heroines in fiction come and go and most of them are soon forgotten. But not Harriet the Spy, 11-year-old whirlwind of precocity and single-minded purpose....This is a brilliantly written, unsparingly realistic story, a superb portrait of an extraordinary child." Book Week
"From the very beginning this story has a vitality and interest that complex attention. 11-year-old Harriet is a superb character. Most modern fictional children are pallid denizens of a dream world compared with this precocious, intense, egocentric, and mean child." Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"A very, very funny and very, very effective story; the characterizations are marvelously shrewd, the pictures of urban life and of the power structure of the sixth grade class are realistic."
"Heroines in fiction come and go and most of them are soon forgotten. But not Harriet the Spy, 11-year-old whirlwind of precocity and single-minded purpose....This is a brilliantly written, unsparingly realistic story, a superb portrait of an extraordinary child." Book Week
"From the very beginning this story has a vitality and interest that complex attention. 11-year-old Harriet is a superb character. Most modern fictional children are pallid denizens of a dream world compared with this precocious, intense, egocentric, and mean child." Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"A very, very funny and very, very effective story; the characterizations are marvelously shrewd, the pictures of urban life and of the power structure of the sixth grade class are realistic."
