Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

I don’t know how many times I have read this book, and every time, it startles me. It’s just terrific. So much writing, especially for children, is lying and/or propaganda—you can sense the writer trying to sell you a story, feel the synthetic fibers worked into what they’ve made for you; not here. Is this the only kid’s book where the trusted adult ultimately advises a child to lie? This was published in 1964, a generation after THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, which was written in the 1940s and publish...