Comments on: Summer of “Shelf Discovery” Week 1: Chapter 1

By: girldetective

girldetective — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:40:04 +0000

Margie, the Anne Frank wasn’t a joke–I remember whoever it was had to cajole her family into using war coupons to buy them, and that would fit with Anne, both in time, detail, and personality. Maybe they even had to borrow some coupons from an aunt?

By: margie

margie — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 04:20:06 +0000

no idea on your huarache question, but it feels familiar to me. definitely not Anne Frank, or was that a joke?

By: carolyn

carolyn — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:50:38 +0000

Jennifer, I agree - she’s an interesting character but not an interesting thinker or role model. And, along the lines of your comments about your niece, I would say that the thing that bugs me about Harriet on this re-read IS that I know children much younger who show a more nuanced approach. So the fact that she’s STILL this uncharitable even toward her friends is part of why I think she’s not a heroine — a heroine of her age would be beyond that uncharitableness.

By: Jennifer Reese

Jennifer Reese — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 14:24:02 +0000

I have thought a lot about Harriet in the last week after reading the comments here. I was so disgusted with her after finishing the book that I intentionally left my copy in the seat back of a plane so I can’t revisit, which I’m sorry about. Harriet is an interesting character, and the more I think about it, the more I respect Louise Fitzhugh for making her so staunchly herself and imperfect. Harriet’s parents are terrible (the way they send away Ole Golly?) and at home she’s both spoiled and lonely and if I think about it, I feel sorry for her. As Shannon says, it’s true, we all think uncharitable thoughts and I see the merit in depicting a little girl who shamelessly does just that. But how interesting or brave is she in her uncharitable honesty? Much, much younger than Harriet most people learn to temper those thoughts. Moreover, they learn how shallow and dull such blunt observations are. I’m thinking about my niece, who is 6, and her observations are already so much more nuanced and charitable and interesting than Harriet’s “ballsy” broadsides. And I think even at 6 she would know better than to go around writing mean things about people in a journal that she carries to school. I’ve come around to thinking that Harriet is an interesting, troubled character, but I would still argue that she’s NOT an interesting thinker, not an interesting writer, not a heroine, not a role model.

By: girldetective

girldetective — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 21:26:30 +0000

OK, fellow readers, which YA book has the scene where a girl begs her family to use war coupons to buy huarache shoes, then she goes to school and another girl already has them? Blubber? Anne Frank? Something else?

I am SO going to have to read Harriet. I was going to try to live by the “I’ll read however many of that week’s books in that week that I can” rule, but I think the wide disagreement on Harriet is “forcing” my hand!

By: shannon

shannon — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 21:19:20 +0000

GD, the squeak-squeak scene is not coming back to me… Sally J did wear red sneakers to class her first day (she threw the sox in the garbage to fit in) and then insisted her mother buy her sandals, like all the other girls.
(later she got a foot fungus from - what her mother said - walking barefoot on the carpet, but Sally J had started to question her mother by then and disagreed)

as for Harriet, i’m still gonna stick up for her. kids (heck adults!) think quick, uncharitable, judgemental thoughts all the time. her only crime is writing them down. and her loving ole golly has nothing to do with noticing she has a big nose, etc - this is the contradiction of relationship: seeing flaws but loving past them
(and when ole golly writes to Harriet and tells her to apologize and lie, ole golly is demonstrating how well she knows stubborn Harriet. ole golly shows her the way to ‘make nice’ for society, but doesn’t tell her she has a character flaw and/or needs to change. THAT is real love: seeing the flaw and loving past it)

By: crystal

crystal — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 16:14:50 +0000

I finally finished A Wrinkle in Time and I see how whiney Meg came across more towards the end but I guess I wasn’t as annoyed. I thunk her flaws make her character more believeable and lively. Really loved this book and I don’t think I read it as a child but will definitely encourage my children to do so. This book actually emulates alot of what I feel about spirituality today. I do recommend seeing the 2003 movie adaptation. If any of you loved The Neverending Story you will like watching this with or without your kids. Speaking of The Neverending Story, that would definitely be one that I would include in the list of greats from back-in-the-day.

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:25:37 +0000

I started trying to read Danny the Champion, but just could not get into it. I then switched to Harriet (which I don’t recall ever reading) and was immediately enchanted by her. I think at first she represented the freedom you have a a child to have (and in Harriet’s case write down) completely uncensored thoughts. As she was found out and and then shunned so overtly, again, as only children can, I felt very sorry for her. As I parent myself, I recognized that Harriet needed a parent, and the closest thing, Ole Golly, just left. I waited for the moment for Ole Golly to return and set Harriet straight, clue her in on life and friendships. When the letter came, and Ole Golly’s advice boils down to apologize and lie, well that is when the book lost it for me. Harriet struggled with the apparent dichotomy between what Ole Golly says and does with Harriet and how she changes in front of her boyfriend. Harriet refuses to do this and doesn’t understand why she should. So while I understand Harriet is championed for “staying true to herself” while Ole Golly falls to the weak feminine ideal of “nice”, remember that she is still nine. And staying true to her “nine year old self” just makes her a mean girl when she is twelve.

By: thalia

thalia — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:11:21 +0000

GD - I did say I’d read Danny a lot. Yes, Dahl is one of our top authors read by children (in the top 5 I’d say). There are only the 2 I hadn’t heard of, I have heard of the sally J book but it was not one of the blume books I read, think I’m slightly older than some of you and this one was published when I was too old for it? I read AYTGIMM about a million times and since it wasn’t published in the UK for a while (because it talked about PERIODS shock horror) my copy got all dog eared from friends borrowing it. More of that on Monday, right?

I really think people are misjudging harriet. She felt genuinely awful about how she wrote about her friend, and understood why he was so angry. And she saw them in a new light when she visited them towards the end of the book. She is flawed, of course, but not without merit.

By: Cyndi

Cyndi — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 01:15:33 +0000

Harriet was my choice for this week, and my experience was similar to Jennifer’s. I honestly wish I hadn’t renewed my acquaintance with Harriet, as I found I now actively dislike her. I’ve been trying to figure out why I would have remembered her fondly, and I’m afraid it may have been something as superficial as discovering someone who carried around a notebook and wrote all the time. At least now I hope that was it, because I can’t imagine even my childhood self finding anything appealing about her actual character. I wanted to find the self assurance and curiosity that others have mentioned, but I just didn’t. To be completely fair I should probably read the book again, but think I’ll just leave her be. I was also disturbed by her parents (who I’m sure I didn’t give a second thought to as a girl). I’m not sure that her “toughness” in the face of her social exclusion is enough to make her a role model. Even this “standing her ground” was less than admirable as she plotted and carried out revenge acts. I do think we need heroines/strong characters to pass on to our daughters (and sons), but think there are much better examples than Harriet!