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Harriet the Spy #2

The Long Secret

louise fitzhugh

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Harriet the Spy refuses to become ruffled when an unidentified person starts leaving disturbing notes all over the quiet little beach town of Water Mill. She’s determined to discover the author of the notes. And she drags her friend, mousy Beth Ellen, into all kinds of odd and embarrassing situations in her efforts to reveal the culprit. Observing in her own special, caustic way with her ever-present notebook, Harriet the Spy is on the case. But will she be ready to face the truth when she finds it?

Praise for Harriet the Spy® and Her Friends
 
Harriet the Spy ®

“Harriet is . . . wholly relatable whether you’re eleven or several times that age.”— EW.com
 
Harriet Spies Again
By Louise Fitzhugh and Helen Ericson
Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Novel

“Ericson has perfectly captured the voice and pacing of Fitzhugh’s original novel in a seamless rendering of a fresh, enjoyable story for today’s readers.” — School Library Journal

Harriet the Spy, Double Agent
By Louise Fitzhugh and Maya Gold

“Harriet the Spy is back, and Gold does a credible job of maintaining the special character and her crusty charm.” — Booklist

The Long Secret

[ STAR ] “Written with subtlety, compassion, and [Louise Fitzhugh’s] remarkable ability to see inside the minds of children.” — School Library Journal, Starred
 
Sport

[ STAR ] “A worthy successor to Harriet the Spy —and that is high tribute.” — Booklist, Starred

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1965
Series
Harriet the Spy
Places
long island new york, 

This edition

Format
288 pages, Paperback
Published
March 12, 2002 by Yearling
ISBN
9780440418191
ASIN
0440418194
Language
English

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About the author

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louise fitzhugh

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Louise Perkins Fitzhugh was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Fitzhugh is best known for her 1964 novel Harriet the Spy, a fiction work about an adolescent girl's predisposition with a journal covering the foibles of her friends, her classmates, and the strangers she is captivated by. The novel was later adapted into a live action film in 1996. The sequel novel, The Long Secret, was published in 1965, and its follow-up book, Sport, was published posthumously in 1979. Fitzhugh also wrote Nobody's Family Is Going to Change, which was later adapted into a short film and a play.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
36(36%)
4 stars
29(29%)
3 stars
35(35%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Fishy-sensei
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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I remember reading this book as a tween and being bummed out it wasn't as good as the incredible Harriet the Spy..............kept it all these years and decided to re-read it. Glad I did! It is actually much better to read as an adult! There are so many adult situations, nuances, references that were lost on me as a young reader ....... if you felt let down by it as well when you were young, give it another try - it is actually quite poignant and heartfelt.
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juryaplee
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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A great addition!!

I'm really glad she wrote this book. I actually really LIKED Beth Ellen in the original Harriet the Spy, I thought she was a very interesting character, and as it turns out, she was!!! Fully worthy of her own adventures!!! This book is underrated.

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majors00
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Everybody reads Harriet the Spy, but few continue on with the other books in the series. For my money, The Long Secret is as every bit as good as, and possibly better then, the first book. Concentrating more on Harriet's friend Beth Ellen, The Long Secret combines a tantalizing view of summer life in a Long Island community with a strange mystery of an anonymous note-writer. The Long Secret is an oddly compelling read that would be a perfect summer reading book.
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sfasze
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Why five stars for this quirky sequel to Harriet the Spy? Beth Ellen. For some reason, her character’s perspective and transformation was rich to me, relatable and reassuring as it came to its close and Beth Ellen was no longer a mouse and had a voice and felt free. I was rooting for her. I found humor in Harriet, imagined the green glade where the tavern sat. I loved the preacher and his dialogue. This book told a different tale than Fitzhugh’s last. It was about being seen.
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DeathSoul457
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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It took me a while to realize that Beth Ellen and Harriet's families were summering in the Cape, or wherever families used to summer in the 1960s.

So here's the thing. When I first heard Harriet the Spy in 5th grade, I imagined her in a town much like mine. I had no experience with big cities, or what it was like to live in one, so I put Harriet in my town with tall buildings.

With that in mind, I expected Harriet and Beth Ellen to be in New York still, only to be thrown off that they were in a summer town.

Once I handled that, I accepted that Beth Ellen was the main character here. Harriet's in the book and plays a main part.

(But Harriet, even when the book is focused on her, is different. She mentions Ole Golly once--odd, considering Ole Golly raised Harriet and her departure was so traumatic...)

Beth Ellen did grow up a lot this summer. Harriet didn't grow up this summer.

This book was worth my time, I just wish I had realized a few things before I started!
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CursedKeyblade
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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One of my all time favorite books from my childhood. More than Harriet Welsch, I identified with Beth Ellen Hansen. Harriet felt like the child I wanted to be, while Beth Ellen is the child that I was. Interestingly I have never read Harriet the Spy and one day soon I may pick it up, but The Long Secret is a brilliant book standing on its own.
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AnimeDaoist7
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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In the sequel to Harriet the Spy, Harriet is still spying as well as trying to write a story. Her family is at their summer cottage on the shore and strange notes with biblical quotations begin to appear in the village. Harriet recruits her friend Beth Ellen's unwilling help in getting to the bottom of the mystery.

Harriet is as annoying as ever and Louise Fitzhugh's writing is as jarring as Harriet is annoying. Well, puberty is a jarring time and I admire how well Fitzhugh captures it. The girls are 11 going on 12 and most of what adults do is cloaked in mystery as they try to figure it all out.

There were not many books for kids in the 1960s that dealt with the onset of menstruation, the odd bodily stirrings when around boys, the wild imaginings that occur. Judy Blume, Madeline L'Engle, and Beverly Cleary were about the only other ones. Each had their own style ranging from comforting to mystical to humorous. Fitzhugh was perhaps the most outrageous of them all and the most fearless.
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