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Harriet the Spy #3

Sport

louise fitzhugh

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Eleven-year-old Sport Rocque is living a happy life, keeping his father's absentmindedness under control, and managing the family budget. When Kate, Sport's new-and nice-stepmother enters the picture, things couldn't be better. Then comes the Sport's wealthy grandfather has just died and Sport is a multimillionaire.
But millions of dollars equals millions of problems, as Sport soon discovers when his mother returns and kidnaps him to double her share of the inheritance! Life at the Plaza Hotel is no fun when you're a prisoner. Will Sport manage to return his life to normal?

224 pages, Library Binding

First published March 28,1980
Series
Harriet the Spy
Places
the united states of america, 

This edition

Format
224 pages, Library Binding
Published
May 8, 2001 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ISBN
9780385900119
ASIN
0385900112
Language
English
Characters More characters

More editions

About the author

Profile Image for louise fitzhugh

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, 86 votes)
5 stars
30(35%)
4 stars
24(28%)
3 stars
32(37%)
2 stars
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86 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
eilovemyself
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I read Harriet the Spy and The Long Secret in grade school and it was only a couple years ago that I discovered there was this other book, Sport. I was excited because I'd liked Sport in Harriet the Spy and was looking forward to reading more about him. Sport reminded me of myself because I was also the only child of a single parent and I took on a lot of worry and responsibility about money. But when I finally managed to lay hands on a copy, I was disappointed. Her writing wasn't nearly so pithy and the plot was thin and predictable. The characters were one-dimensional. It was like when a series becomes a franchise and other authors start writing sequels, except this actually was the original author. It's too bad because Sport could have made a great main character. Perhaps publishers pressured Fitzhugh into writing this sequel, I don't know. But her love for the characters seemed to have gone.
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100blues
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Mind-blowing. On the first page, Sport's (hated, and justly so) mother tells him, 'You've got a goddamned literal mind.' Such a shot across the bow is Fitzhugh's warning that this will not be your standard middle-school fare. It put me in mind of Susan Patron's dropping in 'scrotum' on page one of 'The Higher Power of Lucky' and all the fuss that caused. Come to think of it, Lucky Trimble owes a debt to Harriet Welch; she's even also a spy. 'Sport' is a sequel to 'Harriet the Spy' and sent me back to it, but Harriet only makes a cameo appearance in this astounding novel about an eleven-year-old that includes themes of alcoholism, racism, child custody battles, and death, and yet is still funny and warm and exciting. Highly recommended.
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Lolight123
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I think I started Sport in fifth grade because I loved Harriet the Spy so much but was turned off by the first chapter, where Sport's cartoonish rich mother is interacting with him. She is over the top and reminiscent of Beth Ellen's mother in The Long Secret. So now I decided to read it as an adult and give it more of a chance, and it was an interesting book with the same feel of the others. Sport's mothers mindless pursuit of money and kidnapping her son is a little ridiculous, but I was interested in his father's new girlfriend and how Sport's life will be changing. Sport also has summer friends and one of them is black, and while he is still written in the style of the 60s, this is certainly a step up from the "chocolate covered basett hound " of the Long Secret, altho chocolate is once again used as a descriptor. At one point his character has to interact with cops who call him the N-word, and he and Sports Puerto Rican friend discuss the cops dislike of them. I do believe tho that Louise Fitzhugh was a smart, progressive writer for her time and look forward to reading the other published book she came out with. I always identified most with Harriet, so I was glad she was able to make some cameos. She was pretty subdued at her appearance at a social function but clearly turning into a young woman. She's a little more lively later when she throws cranberry juice on Sport's aunt after she faints. The ending seemed a little abrupt, but I was also reading the ebook version so I didn't know I was getting close to the end. While it's my third favorite of the three books, it's still good and interesting.
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
Erasiel
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Sport's part of the story isn't all that interesting. But the messages about racism and classism are interesting, nuanced but clear, and unfortunately still relevant. All of Harry's peacock camouflage can't protect him from cops who want to arrest his "n.." self, and the Puerto Rican boy, Chi-chi, is almost as terrified. And they're just pre-pubescent boys....
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
Exill
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I must have read this as a kid, I know I read HARRIET THE SPY, then read it in 2004 and was blown away and probably got more out of it as a 38 year old than an 8 year old. A true classic. Like The Chocolate War, it's head and shoulders above most of the competition. Deals with some tough issues--is Sport's dad an alcoholic? In a very real, non-dogmatic and ovbious way, which is my beef about quite a bit of the children's and YA stuff that I read today--everything is spelled out in big bold letters. What a true loss Fitzhugh's death is/was.
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
KingWithoutCrown
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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The third book in the Harriet the Spy world, published posthumously by the Fitzhugh estate in 1979.
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
actinid
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book is, at least to me, an amazing character study. Most of the characters are very complex, and it reads like very real people, right down to the racism. Yes, there's racism in this book, but it is in a believable way that real people deal with, and I think that makes it absolutely valuable.

You know how, in movies, the marginalized character often gets the chance to go on a massive speech and the racist character(s) get their comeuppance? Doesn't happen here, and that makes it all the more real, because, frankly, when folks are being bigoted against you, it's often not in an easy to combat way, or has at least a little ambiguity to it.

Furthermore, it really captures the dysfunction that can emerge in a family. Mr. Vane, the grandfather, is clearly a sexist, and that in turn seems to pass down to his daughters a certain coldness and narcissism. Charlotte mistreats Sport and others at many turns, and, while awful, isn't portrayed as being so just because she's inherently bad. You can see how her character sort of thinks and why she might believe she's justified in doing the awful things she does.

I also enjoyed Sport's inner monologue, and how he'd often think things and not say them. It really took me back to my childhood, in which being silent was often the best course of action.

I love this book as well as Harriet the Spy, because the author never diminishes the concerns or feelings of child characters. Absolutely would recommend.
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