The Long Secret

by Louise Fitzhugh

Book Overview

Harriet the Spy refuses to become ruffled when an unidentified person starts leaving disturbing notes all over the quiet little beach town of Water Mill. She's determined to discover the author of the notes. And she drags her friend, mousy Beth Ellen, into all kinds of odd and embarrassing situations in her efforts to reveal the culprit. Observing in her own special, caustic way with her ever-present notebook, Harriet the Spy is on the case. But will...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440418194
• ISBN13: 9780440418191
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Random House Children's Books
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

great sequel to harriet the spy !!

i am only about halfway through and i am thoroughly enjoying this book ... fitzhugh was such a great writer you just have to sit back and think thank god she chose to write instead of doing something else... i read these books when i was a kid and forgot how great they were until i got older and decided to go on this site to replenish my library of books that were either lost or destroyed if you loved harriet the spy you will love this book bye for now

A Serious Book for Serious Children -- Of All Ages!

If you want to keep your kids dumb, silly, sticky-faced, and ready to swallow everything our current corporate-media society is ready to throw down their throats for the rest of their lives, don't let them read this book -- get them Helen Ericson's soulless Harriet Spies Again instead. Would you let your children read Shakespeare? Would you let them read Dickens? Hubert Selby? Charles Bukowski? Would you let them listen to Lennon or Lou Reed or Dylan or Pink Floyd? Would you let them eat organic brussels sprouts? Would you take them to Bryce Canyon? Would you give them a camera? Would you let them close the bedroom door? Would you let them cry without giving them "something to really cry about"? Would you turn off the TV? Do I sound like a pseudointellectual yet?It's a seriously great book. I'm a cranky thirty-year-old guy who cries as I root for Beth Ellen Hansen to find herself. I find Harriet M. Welsch even funnier as a supporting character than I did in her starring role. I long for a wise Rodger Welsch to set me straight without spoiling my innocence, and I gape in awe at Mrs. Welsch's wit in the face of the appalling Zeeney. Thank you, Grandmother, for not making me go to Paris. Thank you, Janie, for dispelling my superstitions. And thank you, Harriet, for busting me! Thank you, LOUISE! Rest in peace -- since ghosts evidently do not have the power to possess living writers.

Excellent Book, But Very Disturbing

I think if a child is going to read this book, that the parent shoud read it either first, or along with the child, and discuss it with the child. I LOVED Harriet the Spy, both as a child, as an adult. When I bought Harriet the Spy for my dauughter, I saw this book, and bought it, too, sight unseen. I have just read it, and am quite surprised that the topics discussed in this book could have been published in 1965, when society was more conservative today. I did not like the chapter on Janie having her period. Not that I object to the subject being discussed--I just didn't like the presentation of it in this book. I think what I found disturbing about this book are the particular identity issues it brings up. Maybe it touched too closely on some things I found disturbing as a child. I was shocked with the actions and behavior of some of the adult characters in the book--I didn't like it at all. However, I will concede that by the end of the book, the behavior of the characters I didn't like was completely discredited, and Beth Ellen REALLY ends up growing as a person in this book--that's what this book is all about. I was VERY surprised how the mystery of the notes ended--I didn't expect it, and that was excellent. I think Louise Fitzhugh tied up all the ends very well, and makes some excellent moral points for kids to think about. Another issue in this book is the extreme rudeness of Harriet's behavior--her behavior in the first book didn't bother me at all--but in this book it did. At least her extreme rudeness is pointed out to kids for them to think about (I'm not talking about her spying on people--I'm talking about the way she SPEAKS to people, and the way she treats her FRIENDS). Even though the book disturbed me, I felt it WAS well-written, and had some important points to make. I would recommend it, but would suggest parents read it, too, and discuss it with their children.

A great read, a must read

In third grade my third grade teacher decided to read us the beginning of "Harriet the Spy." While she got as far as when Janie tells Harriet about dancing school, she had the sequel, "The Long Secret", in the book corner of our classroom, and only one person knew about it: me. Since that day in third grade when I noticed the copy, I've read it a hundred times if not more. Who can't resist the rough and tumble Jenkins family or Zeeney or Wallace ("Hup!"). Or Bunny or Agatha or Harriet or Beth Ellen? Your life will be changed after reading it. Trust me.

I LAUGHED UNTIL IT HURT!

I got this book when I was a child and I thought it was a scream! I actually laughed so hard it hurt!Beth-Ellen, Harriet's shy and retiring friend is the perfect foil to the outspoken, brash, wonderfully assertive Harriet of Harriet the Spy fame. Both girls have summer homes in Water Mill, Long Island, their families' retreat from Manhattan when school gets out. Beth-Ellen lives with her kindly grandmother, who has some rather neanderthal ideas about imparting information concerning puberty, but who is a nice sort after all.Harriet has not put down her pen and notebook. Seems that somebody else has taken up writing that summer. Quotes from the Bible and parodies of Scripture are seen throughout the Water Mill community. Naturally suspicion turns to a summer girl named Jessie who aspires to be a preacher when she grows up. Chock full of Biblical knowledge, Jessie has a morbidly obese mother and twin brother and a cute preschool sister. There is no mention of a father.Beth-Ellen, on the other hand becomes reacquainted with her mother. Seems that Beth-Ellen's mother was a society lady, preferring parties and travel to raising a child. Beth-Ellen's natural father left some years earlier. The reunion is a bust. Beth-Ellen's mother, Zeeney, is just as flighty and superficial as ever. Her stepfather just says "hup" and loves martinis. They try to make Beth-Ellen over, straightening her hair and choosing her clothes and insisting that she leave her grandmother and come with them. Beth-Ellen refuses, wins her case and Harriet cracks THE case -- the identity of the Secret Writer!This book is a riot!

Hup!

I am a creative writing major in college and I reread Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet The Spy, Sport and especially The Long Secret over and over again. Her writing is unflinching, honest, observant and doesn't make young adults "childlike". Her characters are so very real, they express the good, the bad, and the funny of being human.