i never read harriet the spy as a kid. i promise i read as a kid but now i am starting to realize i read kid fluff ie the babysisters' club and goosebumps and sadly never the classics. even more odd, i was also around for the resurgence of harriet the spy when the movie was made in 96 with michelle trachtenburg. i remember my sister had a copy and i contemplated reading it but i never did.
however, once again thanks to mindy kaling instagram:
i decided to buckle down and read it.
i hate to admit this but i have mixed feelings about harriet the spy. i enjoyed following harriet on her spy adventures and i loved reading her musing on life but i felt like she had some serious character flaws. i found myself frustrated with her behavior at times so didn't love her as much as i thought i was going to. come to think of it, i loved her for creativity and thoughts but hated how she treated others, so in a way my feelings must be similar to sport's feelings about harriet. i did love her just wish she was a better person/friend at times.
to be honest, being an adult and readinf this, i was a bit harsher on harriet than the child me would have been. the child me would have excited about her spying (i at times found it a bit creepy). but something adult me and child me would have agreed on is her musings in her spy book were quite thought provoking! we both would have loved her little bursts of wisdom:
harriet's musings:
"what is too old to have fun?"
"i'm glad i'm not perfect--i'd be bored to death."
(i second this!)
" . . . in washington they've already got a little tube with a spoonful of something in it that will blow up the whole world? maybe the whole universe. what would happen? would we fly through the air? in spade you just float around. i would be lonely."
"life is a great mystery. is everybody a different person when they are with someone else?"
(as an adult i have come to realize that we do wear different hats and assume different personas in life.)
"either we each have a brain and they look alike or we each have a special brain that looks like the inside of each of our heads."
"i wonder if when you dream about somebody they dream about you."
(this last one is something i always thought about as a kid especially when i would dream of my crushes! at let's be honest, i still wonder about this as an adult!)
i absolutely adored harriet for cleverness but was disappointed by her anger. child me would have understood her anger but adult me expected better behavior. i was sadden by her need for revenge. i was absolutely appalled by the gossip she printed in her column (and outraged that the school allowed it). my disappointment came from that fact that harriet was such a great character that to see her with poor behavior it broke my heart a bit.
i understand that harriet's poor behavior was became her life seemed to be crumbling apart. but i felt ole golly raised her to be a better person. and i am not completely heartless, i did think that harriet did get a bum wrap when her friends turned on her because of the spy book. i didn't think harriet was a bad person for writing what she wrote about her friends. i mean we all pass judgement on everyone, only it was just unfortunate that she got caught being too honest. but thankfully she learned her lesson about little white lies because kids should be honest but polite honest which means sometimes lying to spare someone's feelings.
i have to add, i understood why harriet's life fell apart when ole golly left her because mine would have fell apart if ole golly left me! i loved ole golly with her literary quotes and words of wisdom. in fact, i would have preferred a book about ole golly growing up instead of harriet. (this should seriously be a prequel).
i really wish i would have read "harriet the spy" as a child because child me would have received some great life lessons via ole golly (adult me sure did!):
". . . there is as many ways to live as there are people on the earth and [you] shouldn't go round with binders but you should see every way [you] can. then [you'll] know what way [you] want to live and not just life like [your] family."
". . . find out everything you can cause life is hard enough even if you know a lot."
"people who love their work love life."
when harriet was crying about her leaving: "tears won't bring me back. remember that: tears never bring anything back. life is a struggle and a good spy gets in there and fights."
though i love math, i found this clever: "math did for them that only want to count everything, it's them that wants to know what they're counting that matter."
and from her letter:
"little lies that make people feel better see not bad, like thanking someone for a meal they made even if you hated it, or telling a sick person they look better when they don't, or someone with a hideous new had that its lovely."
"but to yourself you must always tell the truth."
"gone is gone. i never miss anything or anyone because it all becomes a lovely memory. i guard my memories and love them but i don't get in them and lie down."
ole golly! what a great nanny!!!
this was an adorable book with little pearls of wisdom. i guess in the end, i did love harriet. i loved her like you would a best friend, you love them regardless even with their flaws!
i have to add, i want to start doing literary costumes for halloween and as i read, i realized that harriet's spy outfit would be cute as a costume! you might see it next year for halloween!
