This was a favorite of mine as a kid and I was reminded of it recently, so it seemed time for a re-read.

Like Harriet the Spy, the writing is engaging and focuses on the things kids notice: shoes, adults' sincerity, food. Sport is a kid who lives a poor existence with his father, while his rich mother spends her days in Europe. With the death of his grandfather, Sport is suddenly a multi-millionaire, but the terms of the will allow an opening for his mother to get a big piece of the pie--if she will actually take care of him. She works hard to dress up Sport and turn him into her idea of a young man, but really he just wants to hang around with his friends, go to school, and take care of his dad, an absent minded writer.

I remembered most of the story, but the details were so vivid in rereading. It's amazing how Fitzhugh skewers Sport's mother Charlotte as an upper class New York socialite. There were things that I know went over my head as a kid, such as Charlotte's casual anti-Semitism. In one scene, Sport is allowed to invite his friends to tea with Charlotte and besides Harriet, he brings Seymour and Harry, working class kids like himself. Harry is a well dressed boy who affects a British accent and Charlotte attempts to interpret his dark skin as Indian, assuming his father must be a British consulate or some such, but no, he's just a regular black kid. (Note: this is a book from the 70s and Harry uses the n-word to describe himself. For context, Sport told all his friends to be obnoxious to his mother to try and get her to leave him out of her plans, so Harry may have been trying to provoke her.)

It's a quick read and despite its age ($35 for a 2 bedroom apt in New York!?) I think it holds up well. There's plenty of food for discussion here as well in terms of race, class, family construct, personal authority, etc. I'll be reading this to my son when he gets older, maybe 7?

This was a really dark book! Between racist quips (from everyone, even the protagonists!) to kidnapping, Sport's life is definitely shown as being a lot less sheltered than Harriet's. While I enjoyed the expansion of Louise Fitzhugh's Upper East Side Manhattan world of 11-year-olds, I got very sad at different parts throughout this book. These kinds of parenting styles may have been the norm back in 1979 when this book was written, but I found my mouth dropping open at pretty much every interaction.

I had forgotten all about this book! I know I loved it and now I must reread it, but no copies in my library system. Must buy used copy immediately!

Sport (Harriet the Spy #3) is a quick moving and delightful continuation of the Harriet the Spy series by Louise Fitzhugh. Sport, who is Harriet the Spy's best friend is caught in a custody battle primarily because his grandfather has left him a fortune and his long absent mother wants a big piece of the fortune. Sport is a canny money manager already and takes care of the family finances while living with his father who is a writer. Sport is rescued by his friends Chi Chi, Harriet, Harry and Seymour and still deals with the dullness of adults who initially do not believe him when he says he has been kidnapped by his mother's family! The shocking thing in this book is the use of the "n" word...twice!
Still and yet, I raced through it in a day and enjoyed every word except that one!

I really enjoyed this, which after a couple of lacklustre choices was a relief. I ate it in a couple of hours. Growing up in the 60s I read Harriet the Spy several times, and it inspired me to try to keep a notebook...until my mother started reading it while I was at school and taking exception to things I wrote. That taught me never to put anything in writing I didn't want used against me in a kangaroo court, I can tell you. Yeah, I tried to hide it, but there was no "hide" she would not find. Sport seemed a sympathetic sidebar character in that book: a young boy parenting his dreamy-minded father, but there was no indication that I remember of a divorce; I always assumed Sport's mother had died.
Fast forward several decades and I re-read Harriet and didn't find her nearly so appealing as I did at ages 8-11 (having left my own dysfunctional family), but I decided to give Sport a fair trial. Sport's dad has met a new love and Sport, though wary at first, discovers the loving mother he never had. His biological mother is still alive, but wants nothing to do with him unless it's as a pawn in her schemes. Harriet appears briefly in two scenes as a mere background scribble; Sport now has male friends his own age, though he still feels friendly enough toward Harriet. She, however, seems not to have progressed an inch. I didn't miss her a bit.

Rounded out this series.

I like Kate a lot and was amused by the boy-speak.

This was amazing.

Even in the original Harriet book, Sport stood out as one of the most interesting characters. He and Harriet live nearly opposite experiences: her always seeking new things from her position in a sometimes-nearly-too-stable family, and him desperately seeking some stability to shore up the quicksand that is his life.

This book tells his story, expanding on the tiny fragments we got to see in Harriet the Spy, and I loved it. This is definitely the most high-stakes book in the series. No need for Sport to go around looking for half-made-up mysteries to solve -- his life already has far too much adventure, including two kidnappings, a dangerous run-in with the cops, and amounts of money most people can only dream of.

Sport's rich mom reminds me of a lawful evil version of Beth Ellen's chaotic neutral mom from the second book. It's Sport's dad that really throws a different flavor into this story. He came off really badly in Harriet the Spy. His irresponsibility and parentification of his eleven-year-old son are almost impossible to see past for an outsider looking in, but looking at him from Sport's perspective, we get to see the brave, selfless, loving sides of him as well.

The addition of Kate to the household was really sweet, and made so much more of an impact on Sport than even the money. The kidnapping upped the tension in the book, but not nearly as much as the encounter with the police. False witness is one of the worst, most stressful things in the world -- but the payoff was great, especially the contrast between when the police take Sport to his mom's house, versus when they finally make it to his dad's.

I didn't mention Harriet, because she's barely in two scenes. She wasn't even really rude once, which shows you how minimal her impact was on the story. Would it have been nice if she showed up more? Sure. But you know what? This book doesn't need her. It's great just the way it is.

Sport is my favorite of Louise Fitzhugh's books. Sport (really Simon) and his poor writer father live in a dump of an apartment; Sport's mother (divorced from his father) is wealthy and spoiled. Sport's mother's father dies, precipitating his mother to attempt to kidnap him.

The characters are fun, though not all that deep (but the book is for children, after all).

This book is well done. I enjoyed reading it with my kids.
I really like Lousie Fitzhugh's voice and understanding of the world in which her kid characters live. I actually liked this better than Harriet the Spy. And Harriet Spys Again - DON'T EVEN BOTHER with that one. I guess it was written by a ghost writer and it literally sucks. SPORT is the best! I really, really liked it and would definitely recommend it.

This book actually deals with some rough stuff--Sport's family life? Kinda sucks. REALLY kinda sucks. A lot of folks seem to have disliked this one greatly, but I enjoyed it. No, not as much as I did Harriet the Spy and The Long Secret (the main thing is, it's just a more serious story--much less general hilarity, though there are some funny bits as well), but I still think it's a good story and I really liked that Sport got a book of his own--I always really liked him in Harriet the Spy.

Yawn!

I read this when I was a kid after Harriet the Spy and remember being really disappointed. It has none of Harriet's charm or originality.