I doubt my child self would have been cool with any of that, especially since I could totally have seen myself as a Harriet target. If I’d read this as a kid I would have struggled with the incessant meanness and how this bully of a main character never really changes her behavior or shows any sort of remorse, and in fact, she’s rewarded for being horrible. It takes a child psychiatrist to point out the obvious to Harriet’s parents, who then enlighten Harriet’s teachers and Ole Golly. It’s obvious to the reader that Harriet is a budding writer. The bullying Harriet experienced after her classmates read her lost notebook was even more troubling, as were Harriet’s payback fantasies. Harriet’s breaking and entering bothered me. I was not a snooper as a child, and I avoided the children who were. I didn’t read this book as a child, and I don’t think it would have appealed to me then. Harriet’s world falls apart when Ole Golly leaves and, shortly afterward, Harriet’s lost notebook is found and read by her classmates.

I don’t think Ole Golly meant for Harriet to break into people’s homes and businesses, but that’s what Harriet does. Ole Golly told Harriet that she needs to get out in the world and see lots of people, because there are as many ways to live as there are people, and Harriet needs to decide how she wants to live. The adult she listens to is Ole Golly, her nurse. She’s already practicing, wearing spy clothes and carrying a notebook on her spy route. Welsch knows exactly what she wants to be when she grows up.

Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Eleven-year-old Harriet M.

100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.

COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.

Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh