Book Talk #1

Harriet the Spy

Louise Fitzhugh

Outline

Harriet the Spy is a children's novel published in 1964. The protagonist, eleven-year-old Harriet M. Welsch, is an aspiring writer living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with her family and nanny, Ole Golly. Harriet hopes to become a successful novelist one day, so her nanny encourages her to keep a daily journal. In this journal, she writes down brutally honest observations that she notices on her personal spy route. She also writes rude comments regarding her classmates and best friends Sport and Janie.

The climax of the story takes place when Harriet loses her journal during a game of tag. As a result, her classmates discover what she really thinks of them and form a Spy Catcher Club to make her life miserable. This antagonistic club is led by Marion, the editor of the class newspaper and a girl that Harriet strongly dislikes. Although Harriet realizes that she has hurt multiple people with her words, she continues to plan how she will punish each member of the club. After skipping school and not doing her homework for many days, Harriet's grades begin to suffer. To make matters worse, she has no one that she can talk to. Both Sport and Janie still have not forgiven her and Ole Golly has recently moved away after getting married. 

Harriet's parents begin to worry about their daughter's mental health, so they take away her journal. When that does not work they send her to a psychiatrist who suggests that she write to Ole Golly. Harriet writes to her former nanny and receives two pieces of advice. Ole Golly tells Harriet that if people ever read her journal she needs to apologize and then lie. Otherwise, she is going to lose friends. At the end of the story, the Spy Catcher Club dissolves and Harriet is appointed the new editor of the class newspaper. She uses the paper as an opportunity to retract observations that she wrote about in her journal and eventually earns the forgiveness of Sport and Janie. The paper goes on to become a success and features stories about people on Harriet's spy route.

Biography

Louise Fitzhugh (1928-1974) was an American writer and illustrator of children's books in the 1960s and is often credited with introducing a new realism in children's fiction. Her characters were popular with girls that did not conform to female stereotypes. While she wrote two sequels to Harriet the Spy (1964), titled the Long Secret (1965) and Sport (1979, published posthumously) they received mixed reviews from the public and never gained much popularity. Apart from the Harriet the Spy series, Fitzhugh also wrote the novel Nobody's Family Is Going To Change (1974), the play Bang, Bang, You're Dead (1969), and illustrated multiple children's books.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee to wealthy parents, Fitzhugh was raised by her father after her parents divorced when she was an infant. She attended three universities and lived in Washington D.C., France, and Italy.  Fitzhugh died from a brain aneurysm at the age of 46 in 1974. 

Rationale

I first read this book when I was in the fourth grade and I remember wanting to be exactly like Harriet. She is an easy character to relate to because she writes the things that we have all thought of at some point in time. Moreover, Harriet shows readers that material objects are not the stuff that happiness is made of. These aspects make her story as relevant today as it was when it was first written. This is the perfect book to read at the middle school level because it is set in the sixth grade and covers issues that students may encounter such as loneliness, depression, bullying, and other challenges of growing up.

Teaching Ideas

·         Students could keep a journal of observations for an allotted time. These journals should be factual instead of insulting. After the allotted time, students can share their journal entries and compare their observations to their peers. What did they observe? Who included the most detail in their observations? Keeping a journal could also help students improve their writing. 

·         Since there is a movie version of Harriet the Spy, students can compare the book with the movie and list similarities and differences. Did they like the book or movie better?

·         There are many lessons that Harriet learns throughout the course of this novel. Perhaps students could explore theme by compiling a list of all the lessons that Harriet learned.

·          Harriet is brutally honest (and very detailed) in her descriptions of people. Students can practice characterization by giving people physical and personality traits.

Obstacles

Despite its popularity, Harriet the Spy has been banned from some schools and libraries because it is said to set a bad example for students. Critics believe that it teaches children to lie, spy, back-talk, and curse. Another potential problem that people may have with the book is that the characters depart from the gender norms. For example, Harriet dresses like a boy and Sport takes on the roles of cooking and cleaning in his household.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_the_Spy

http://www.gradesaver.com/author/louise-fitzhugh