A children's favorite, especially among girls, for almost forty years, Harriet the Spy features one of the most memorable female characters in children's literature. Harriet M. Welsch may be skilled in writing and espionage, but she is not a particularly pleasant person.

She's nosey, she thinks a lot of unkind thoughts, and she's also sneaky, stubborn, and self-absorbed. But it's these very qualities, combined with her intelligence and ambition, that endear Harriet to her readers and make her seem so astonishingly real.

This book is also honest in its portrayal of the desperation and loneliness Harriet feels--first, when her nanny leaves her and, later, when her friends turn against her. Most children experience traumas like these as they grow up, and they will recognize themselves in the wounded creature that Harriet becomes. Girls, in particular, will identify with Harriet's confusion and will learn from her strong drive to be true to herself.

Best of all, while Harriet the Spy deals with tough problems,such as how to deal with peer rejection and how to carry on without a beloved friend, it also manages, thanks to author Louise Fitzhugh's keen sense of the ridiculous, to be cheerful and often hilarious. Readers may even be inspired to start keeping their own notebooks--though they shouldn't be so zealous as she is.