Harriet the Spy (Collins Modern Classics) Paperback – 5 May 2016

I read this book when I was a kid, so I bought it and read it again - good old Amazon 😀 Harriet was born to well-off parents but is kind of lonely; she has no siblings and no aunts, uncles, grandparents or cousins. She has kind of on-tenterhooks relationship with her best friends Sport and Janie, and they are a bit twisted and screwed up like she is, because they have shortcomings of their own; they are all kind of latchkey kids. Harriet is very loud and loose, especially for a child brought up in the '50s and '60s - then again, she is a pre-teen - because she never got much one-to-one attention, apart from her nurse/governess Ole Golly who is an intellectual with a dry sense of humour and whose own mother is a loner. That is, until she goes. So maybe she thinks that if she is as observant as possible, being a spy and all, people might take an interest in her more and respect her more, rather than assume she is spoilt and pampered. Spying is all well and good, until all hell breaks loose, someone finds one of her notebooks and all her friends and classmates take her supposed observations the wrong way - awkward! Which results in them all picking on her at school and ganging up on her, and her wanting revenge! But then people start to realise that certain stuck-up, cliquey girls in the class have an even worse attitude, and then... say no more 😉

I was doing a children's literature course for university and this book was one of the recommended further reading texts. The protagonist, Harriet, may initially be perceived to be a pain in the neck because, as the title proclaims, she is a spy and spends her day to day existence invading the privacy of others, albeit surreptitiously, but, as the reader gets to know her, they realise that she's a lonely girl indulging in what she believes to be a little harmless fun, noting down her observations in her trusty notebook, but when the notebook falls into the wrong hands, that's when Harriet's problems really start. Generally, it's a very good story, and an inspiration to spies everywhere, whether amateur, like harriet, or professional. Highly recommended!

You learn a lot of quotes in this book from ole golly!! (Her nurse)😂😂😂😂I don't like the way she speaks but I don't think it should stop us from reading it.Makes u laugh.

I read this book to my kids who are in a spying/detective stage at the moment. They loved the book because they loved Harriet. It's quite a sophisticated story, which we all appreciated. Harriet goes through some emotional challenges which I think are very realistic. A great, flawed heroine. I wish the author had lived longer to write a sequel or two.

This is a great book it’s a easy read doesn’t have much of a plot line but in my opinion that’s why it’s a good read

Brilliant!

I got this book for my daughter who is a reluctant reader and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She read it from start to finish which is unheard of. It certainly captured her imagination!

My favourite book as a child, bought for my daughter, seems good quality