Clumsy Kisses

Harriet the Spy Book Tour

You can read other posts on this tour by clicking here.

I loved Harriet the Spy as a kid. I read it four or five times, always the same copy from my small village library. It was a big hardback edition with a blue cover and it smelt of the library. I read it on holiday one year. When I saw it was the book for this tour I knew I had to join in.

I will also say that one of the things that stuck with me for years was ‘composition notebooks’. We don’t have them in the UK - all school stationery is provided, usually - and I was baffled for years as to what they were. Eventually about two years ago my friend Stancie sent me two and I used one as a journal a couple of years ago. I like them

 What would you have done in Harriet’s position after her friends discovered her notebook?

Protested my innocence.  I mean obviously she wasn’t innocent, because she had written mean things, but it wasn’t like everyone else was pure either. I remember thinking as a child that she should’ve explained herself more, and I still think it now. One of the things I hate most in life is not being believed. It stems from being bullied and having my childminder - who’s daughter was my main bully - send me to a different room because I lost my temper at the bullying. Ugh.

This book was written in 1964, when gender roles & stereotypes were much more rigid than they are today. In Chapter 4, Harriet & Janie feel the pressure to conform, to go to dancing school and be steered away from “unfeminine pursuits” — while later in the book, Marion, Rachel, Laura & Carrie imitate their mothers by playing bridge & drinking tea in the clubhouse. I was reminded of Carol Gilligan’s work on how girls’ “voices” change as they become adolescents. What do you think happened to Harriet & Janie as they became teenagers?  Do you think young girls today still feel similar pressures to conform?

I think young girls definitely do still feel pressure to conform. I think Harriet is a nonconformist for life, though. I think I am too. I think that although Harriet and Janie would have still been outsiders in high school - mostly because they’re smart I think, and a lot of teenaged girls seem to hide their cleverness for a lot of reasons - I think they would have both blossomed at university and would’ve been happy, healthy, independent women.

 Do you think Harriet kept her notebook for the same reasons we blog?

No. I think that Harriet kept a journal for the same reasons that I keep a journal - to record things privately. She definitely didn’t want her thoughts to be read. I think that in her observations were revelations about herself and that’s what she didn’t want to be read. I think a blog is different - we blog to be read. Comments and the freedom of posting on the world wide web means that you write differently to how you’d write in a notebook. I think, anyway. Your mileage may vary

I enjoyed revisiting Harriet. She’s definitely a classic!

That book meme

Rebecca Reads - Again!

La Cienega Just Smiled*

Rebecca Reads

We read to know we are not alone

Protected: How queer

A really big update, oh yes.