Harriet the Spy

Summary:

Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. In her notebook, she writes down everything she knows about everyone, even her classmates and her best friends. Then Harriet loses track of her notebook, and it ends up in the wrong hands. Before she can stop them, her friends have read the always truthful, sometimes awful things she’s written about each of them. Will Harriet find a way to put her life and her friendships back together?  (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)

Review:

While rereading this book was a fun way to revisit childhood, I have to admit I found it slightly slow as an adult!  That surprised me because I remember it being fascinating as a kid.  I think the thing I did love about this book was realizing the number of clever literary references by Ole Golly.  Now that I’ve read some of the things she mentions, I actually realized just how clever she really was/is…

Harriet herself is a fantastic reminder of childhood and the perspective kids have of the world around them.  It’s certainly easy to become absorbed in your own life and forget that a solid heaping of curiosity is good to have!  I’d still highly recommend this book, but I think it’d be more enjoyable to read with a kid of roughly Harriet’s age.

Rating: 4 stars!

Who should read it? Anyone looking to relive childhood or early tweens.

Want to read the whole series?

• The Long Secret (Harriet the Spy #2)

• Sport (Harriet the Spy #3)