Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh’s 1964 classic about an 11-year-old would-be writer, her spying career, and her interactions with her nanny, her classmates, and her parents. 

Other books in the series:

The Long Secret (1965)

Sport (1979, published posthumously)

Fitzhugh’s first book was Suzuki Beane, a parody of Eloise, written by Sandra Scoppettone and illustrated by Fitzhugh.

We also discuss Fitzhugh’s book Nobody’s Family Is Going to Change (1974).

Here’s Deborah’s Q&A with Leslie Brody, author of the Fitzhugh biography Sometimes You Have to Lie (2020).

You can find information on the animated TV series of Harriet the Spy and a link to the (free) first episode at Rotten Tomatoes here. 

The review of the Harriet the Spy animated series that Mary Grace mentioned is here. 

If you enjoyed Harriet the Spy, you might also like From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg (1967). Older kids might be interested in the work of author M.E. Kerr.

The New Yorker article Mary Grace discusses about Louise Fitzhugh is here.

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com