“ ‘ You see the same people every day?’
‘Yes. This year I have the Dei Santi family, Little Joe Curry, the Robinsons, Harrison Withers, and a new one, Mrs. Plumber. Mrs. Plumber is the hardest because I have to get in the dumbwaiter.’
‘Can I go with you sometime?’
‘No, silly. Spies don’t go with friends. Anyway, we’d get caught if there were two of us. Why don’t you get your own route?’
‘Sometimes I watch out my window a window across the way.’
‘What happens there?’
‘Nothing. A man comes home and pulls the shade down.’
‘That’s not very exciting.’
‘It sure isn’t.’ “
Sport and Harriet pg. 10-11, Harriet the Spy
Sixth grader Harriet M. Welsch wants to be a writer and a spy when she grows up, so everyday afterschool she rushes home, and after having her milk and cake, she changes into her spy clothes and heads out on her route. She spends her afternoons peering in windows, eavesdropping on neighbors’ conversations and even pulling herself to the second floor of Mrs. Robinson’s house in the old dumbwaiter. Then she writes down everything she sees in her notebook. How many cats Harrison Withers has, what Little Joe Curry is eating, and the Robinson’s latest purchase; however Harriet also writes down everything she thinks about the people she spies on. But Harriet doesn’t stop there; her notebook is full of her opinions on her friends, classmates, teachers and anyone else she meets. Unfortunately Harriet doesn’t always have nice things to say and one afternoon during a game of tag with her classmates, she drops her notebook and all is revealed. As you can imagine her classmates aren’t too happy to find out what Harriet really thinks. Even her two best friends, Sport and Janie are angry when they find out what Harriet has written about them. How is Harriet going to get herself out of this mess? Read Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh and find out what Harriet does next!
Over the years many books have been challenged or banned by parents, schools and even libraries for their content. In 1983, in the town of Xenia (which is between Columbus and Cincinnati), a formal challenge was issued against Harriet the Spy by a group of citizens, stating that the book “teaches children to lie, spy, back-talk, and curse.”, (Harriet does curse twice in the book). I remember reading Harriet the Spy as a child, and while I do remember looking out my bedroom window thinking it would be fun to spy on my neighbors, I never actually snuck into anyone’s house or peered through their windows, and I never kept a notebook of all my observations. As for the lying, back-talking and cursing, well I was a kid, I probably already lied and back-talked a little, but I knew not to curse. Harriet the Spy made an impression on me as a child, but the impression was that it was a book I enjoyed reading, and I turned out okay … I think.
September 21 – 27, 2014 is Banned Book Week. Visit the America Library Associations web-site to learn more about Banned Book Week and view lists of books challenged or banned over the years.
‘Yes. This year I have the Dei Santi family, Little Joe Curry, the Robinsons, Harrison Withers, and a new one, Mrs. Plumber. Mrs. Plumber is the hardest because I have to get in the dumbwaiter.’
‘Can I go with you sometime?’
‘No, silly. Spies don’t go with friends. Anyway, we’d get caught if there were two of us. Why don’t you get your own route?’
‘Sometimes I watch out my window a window across the way.’
‘What happens there?’
‘Nothing. A man comes home and pulls the shade down.’
‘That’s not very exciting.’
‘It sure isn’t.’ “
Sport and Harriet pg. 10-11, Harriet the Spy
Sixth grader Harriet M. Welsch wants to be a writer and a spy when she grows up, so everyday afterschool she rushes home, and after having her milk and cake, she changes into her spy clothes and heads out on her route. She spends her afternoons peering in windows, eavesdropping on neighbors’ conversations and even pulling herself to the second floor of Mrs. Robinson’s house in the old dumbwaiter. Then she writes down everything she sees in her notebook. How many cats Harrison Withers has, what Little Joe Curry is eating, and the Robinson’s latest purchase; however Harriet also writes down everything she thinks about the people she spies on. But Harriet doesn’t stop there; her notebook is full of her opinions on her friends, classmates, teachers and anyone else she meets. Unfortunately Harriet doesn’t always have nice things to say and one afternoon during a game of tag with her classmates, she drops her notebook and all is revealed. As you can imagine her classmates aren’t too happy to find out what Harriet really thinks. Even her two best friends, Sport and Janie are angry when they find out what Harriet has written about them. How is Harriet going to get herself out of this mess? Read Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh and find out what Harriet does next!
Over the years many books have been challenged or banned by parents, schools and even libraries for their content. In 1983, in the town of Xenia (which is between Columbus and Cincinnati), a formal challenge was issued against Harriet the Spy by a group of citizens, stating that the book “teaches children to lie, spy, back-talk, and curse.”, (Harriet does curse twice in the book). I remember reading Harriet the Spy as a child, and while I do remember looking out my bedroom window thinking it would be fun to spy on my neighbors, I never actually snuck into anyone’s house or peered through their windows, and I never kept a notebook of all my observations. As for the lying, back-talking and cursing, well I was a kid, I probably already lied and back-talked a little, but I knew not to curse. Harriet the Spy made an impression on me as a child, but the impression was that it was a book I enjoyed reading, and I turned out okay … I think.
September 21 – 27, 2014 is Banned Book Week. Visit the America Library Associations web-site to learn more about Banned Book Week and view lists of books challenged or banned over the years.