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.
Discussed on this episode:
Other books in the series:
The Long Secret (1965)
Sport (1979, published posthumously)
Other books by Fitzhugh:
Suzuki Beane, a parody of Eloise, written by Sandra Scoppettone and illustrated by Fitzhugh.
Nobody’s Family Is Going to Change (1974).
Deborah's Q&A with Leslie Brody, author of the Fitzhugh biography Sometimes You Have to Lie (2020).
The animated TV series of Harriet the Spy (There's a link to the (free) first episode at Rotten Tomatoes.
A review of the Harriet the Spy animated series.
Recommended for fans of Harriet the Spy: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (1967) and, for older kids, the work of author M.E. Kerr.
A New Yorker Article about Louise Fitzhugh.
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.
#children's books
Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com