Eh. Part of the point for me of the first book was that you can move on after a disappointment. Getting Ole Golly back isn't allowing Harriet to have that accomplishment. That said, 9 year old Tim enjoyed it.

I was BETRAYED by my own habit of never reading the covers or titles of books and therefore did not realise this was by??? a DIFFERENT AUTHOR???? my own feelings aside this was actually pretty good but the BETRAYAL knocks it down a star.

I enjoyed this

Not quite as strong as the first three books, but still definitely worth reading!! There was less detail, which I missed, but still a lot of passages in Harriet's voice, which made reading them very worthwhile. Overall, I gave the book five stars, because, of course I would!!

Nothing at all like the "real" Harriet...and that's a shame. I don't think she would have acted like this at all. It's very hard to capture the original character, no matter how much you may have loved her when you were growing up. Otherwise, it was a pleasant little read, if you can ignore your preconceived notions.

With the approval of Louise Fitzhugh's (author of "Harriet the Spy") estate, Ericson revisits the life of Harriet M. Welsch and the executors' trust was well placed. An author's note reports that Ericson became a fan when this self-styled young spy first appeared in 1964, and her affection for the feisty character comes through in this new misadventure.

When Harriet's parents leave Manhattan to spend three months in Paris, her former nanny, Ole Golly, returns from Montreal (where she had moved with her new husband) to stay with our favorite spy. Though Harriet's mother warns her that Ole Golly has asked that no one mention her husband's name, the curious sleuth sets out to discover what transpired in Montreal.

Meanwhile, another mystery percolates in the townhouse across the street, where husband-and-wife doctors appear to be keeping a girl captive. As Harriet doggedly attempts to crack these cases, her processing of misinformation makes for some comical scenarios.

While it is admittedly true that Ericson has a decent grasp of Harriet's personality, lovers of the classic book are betrayed by how long Harriet remains clueless about Ole Golly's "condition". It seems that Ericson's version is that of a dumbed down Harriet. More importantly, instead of writing and observing, now she makes wild ridiculous speculations and spends her time, not on her notebook, but on a time line of her life which just bogs down the flow of the story.


Book Details:

Title Harriet Spies Again
Author Helen Ericson
Reviewed By Purplycookie

Biggest problems I had with this book:
-Ole Golly did not act like Ole Golly
-Harriet M. Welsch did not act like herself either.

good book for anyone who read harriet the spy; this companion is for you.

A very fun sequel to Harriet the Spy! Personally I like the first book better, but Harriet Spies Again is a very good book, too, with a fantastic title.

I read Harriet the Spy when I was young, and so enjoyed it that I've read it again and again through the years. I guess Harriet kinds of reminds me of the kind of little girl I would like to have been...totally independent and brassy! She is such a fun little tomboy to follow in her exploits with her friends and as she "spies" on neighbors nearby as she documents in great detail in her "notebooks" her perspective of each of their lives.
This new book, "Harriet Spies Again" takes me back to that first book, and how much I loved it. I am just starting to read it, but already, Harriet's favorite person in the entire world, Ole Golly, is coming back to keep an eye on her while her parents are in Europe.
I can only imagine what is yet to come...it's a fun and quick read on a rainy day or when you're stuck at home and you just feel like something easy to read and enjoy.

Oh my! Well, Harriet is quite the grown up middle schooler discussing such subjects as kissing, romance and pregnancy. There is a drug reference in the book as well and it shocked me to say the least. It started out very slowly, I practically paced waiting for Ole Golly to come back and when she did I was sorry she did come back! The lack of dialogue between Harriet and Ole Golly is unnerving and horribly wrong. Her mother changes from a caring and concerned parent from the first book to a flake who speaks French and can't remember th time zone changes in this book. Janie is no where to be found, Sport is just barely there and is just barely acting like Sport. Harriet's new friend is positively brutal and rude, a girl that no one should model herself after. She mocks Harriet and goes under so many false names she seriously needs her head examined. Yet, the end leaves us, once again, with Ole Golly leaving and Harriet wondering about the inevitable future and it's mysteries. There she sits on the floor after a highly eventful Thanksgiving with her new "friend" and ponders what will be next and bam the book is over. Let down much? And what kid is going to know what an amniocentesis is? And what kid is going to know why a pregnant woman needs to bring in a urine sample? Ugh, the flaws are endless. Giving it two stars was painful. This was an imposter of a novel.

For a spin off on one of my all time favorite childhood books it was pretty good.

Helen Ericson did a pretty impressive imitation of Louise Fitzhugh's writing style, but couldn't fully capture the magic of the real thing. And I have a few issues with the plot itself. For one thing, time felt a bit weirdly compressed between the original books and this one. Harriet Spies Again is explicitly set after the events of Sport but mostly still in Harriet's 11th year. So thinking back to all the other books, there is a heck of a lot going on in maybe just over a year of Harriet's life. Why not give some breathing room in the timeline and have this book start out after Harriet has turned twelve?

And while I didn't mind the idea of Ole Golly coming back for a time, her turning out to be pregnant felt really weird. In Fitzhugh's only illustration of her from the first book, Golly looks like she's pushing sixty. Maybe I missed some context clue that sets her age as younger, but 43 years old doesn't match my mental image of her at all. And I refuse to believe she would give her kid a silly rhyming name like Polly Golly.

For what basically amounts to fanfiction, Harriet Spies Again is decent. Unfortunately, not quite good enough for any of its events to make it into my headcanon.