Harriet the Spy lives in a comfortable brownstone in the easteighties in Manhat- tan. She is an only child who doesn't like many of the sixth graders in her class. Of course, there's Sport, the writer's son: and Janie, the incipient chemist. But Harriet can't stand Marion Hawthorne and her crowd.

Most of all, Harriet loves her nursemaid, Ole Golly ...and a secret noteb€x»k which she fills with utterly honest jottings about her parents, her classmates. and her neigh- bors. Harriet is determined to grow up to be Harriet M. Welsch, the famous writer; and in order to get a head start on her career, she spends part of every day on her spy route "observing" and noting down, in her singular, caustic, comic way, every- thing of interest to her.

The first blow falls when Ole Golly leaves, the second when Harriet's schoolmates find and read her notebook. Their anger and retaliation, Harriet's unexpected and the ingenious methods her teachers and parents use to help turn Harriet the Spy into Harriet M. Welsch combine to make a touching and unusual story.
--front flap