Tag Archives: Louise Fitzhugh

Rereading The Long Secret by Louise Fitzhugh

(You can listen to this episode here.)

For this episode, we reread Louise Fitzhugh’s 1965 novel The Long Secret, the sequel to Harriet the Spy. We discussed Harriet’s summer friendship with her classmate Beth Ellen, a minor character in Harriet the Spy, the mystery of who is leaving notes for residents of the Long Island town of Water Mill, and Fitzhugh’s fascinating but tragic life.

Mentioned on this episode:

Other books by Fitzhugh:

Suzuki Bean, written by Sandra Scoppettone, illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh (1961)

Harriet the Spy (1964)

Nobody’s Family is Going to Change (1974)

Sport (1980)

Also mentioned:

Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy, by Leslie Brody

Deborah’s interview with Leslie Brodie on her blog Book Q&A’s with Deborah Kalb

The Tap Dance Kid, the Broadway musical based on Nobody’s Family is Going to Change (highlights from the 2022 Encores! performance here)

Gloria Vanderbilt’s New York Times review of Harriet the Spy, November 22, 1964

Goodreads reviews of The Long Secret by Robyn and Jamie

Recommended by Deborah: Freaky Friday (1972) and A Billion for Boris (1974) by Mary Rodgers; Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (1970) by Judy Blume

Recommended by Mary Grace: Magic by the Lake by Edward Eager (1957); The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars (1970); All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (1951)

Previous episodes of Rereading Our Childhood:

Rereading Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Rereading Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Rereading Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers

Rereading Magic by the Lake by Edward Eager

Rereading The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars

Rereading All-of-A-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms.

You can find Deborah at deborahkalb.com and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s at My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Our Favorite Children’s Books from 60 Years Ago

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(You can listen to this episode here.)

For our last episode of 2024, we talked about our favorite children’s books of 60 years ago, which we defined as 1964-1966—a great era for children’s books.

Here are our favorites, but it’s more fun if you listen to the episode first. Each of us picked five. We disqualified three books from the period that we’ve done episodes on, Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken, and The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander.

Mary Grace’s top five:

5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

4. The Strange Light by James Reeves

3. Ismo by John Verney

2. The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander

1. The Long Secret by Louise Fitzhugh

Deborah’s top five:

5. The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill.

4. Apples Every Day by Grace Richardson

3. The Noonday Friends by Mary Stolz

2. Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell and Lillian Hoban

1. The Long Secret by Louise Fitzhugh

Honorable Mentions:

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper

Nightbirds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken

The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L’Engle

Henry Reed’s Babysitting Service by Keith Robertson

Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang by Ian Fleming

Other episodes mentioned:

Rereading February’s Road by John Verney

Rereading A Wrinkle in TIme by Madeleine L’Engle

Rereading Henry Reed, Inc. by Keith Robertson

Our Favorite Children’s Books from Fifty Years Ago

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. You can listen to it on Buzzsprout here.

You can find Deborah’s author interviews at Bo oks Q&A by Deborah Kalb and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Our Favorite Children’s Books from 50 Years Ago

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(You can listen to this episode here.)

Mary Grace and Deborah ring in 2024 with a special episode where they count down their five favorite books from 50 years ago, defined as published between 1972 and 1974. They (mostly) didn’t reread these books for the episode, so their choices are based on their childhood memories.

As Mary Grace mentions, the format was inspired by the Book Riot podcast, which has done a number of similar countdowns, including a fun episode on the top bookish phenomena of the past 25 years.

Here are Deborah’s and Mary Grace’s favorites–but we suggest that you listen to the episode before looking at the list!

Deborah’s Favorites

5. Nobody’s Family is Going to Change by Louise Fitzhugh
4. A Billion for Boris by Mary Rodgers
3. Victoria by Barbara Brooks Wallace
2. The Genie of Sutton Place by George Selden
1. A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg

Mary Grace’s Favorites

5. A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle
4. Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! by M.E. Kerr
3. Glory in the Flower by Norma Johnston
2. A Billion for Boris by Mary Rodgers
1. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog Bo oks Q&A by Deborah Kalb and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Rereading Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

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Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh’s 1964 classic about an 11-year-old would-be writer, her spying career, and her interactions with her nanny, her classmates, and her parents. You can listen to the episode here.

Other books in the series:

The Long Secret (1965)

Sport (1979, published posthumously)

Fitzhugh’s first book was Suzuki Beane, a parody of Eloise, written by Sandra Scoppettone and illustrated by Fitzhugh.

We also discuss Fitzhugh’s book Nobody’s Family Is Going to Change (1974).

Here’s Deborah’s Q&A with Leslie Brody, author of the Fitzhugh biography Sometimes You Have to Lie (2020).

You can find information on the animated TV series of Harriet the Spy and a link to the (free) first episode at Rotten Tomatoes here.

The review of the Harriet the Spy animated series that Mary Grace mentioned is here.

If you enjoyed Harriet the Spy, you might also like From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg (1967). Older kids might be interested in the work of author M.E. Kerr.

The New Yorker article Mary Grace discusses about Louise Fitzhugh is here.

Here’s the original hardback cover of Harriet the Spy.

Here’s the classic paperback cover, which we discuss in this episode:

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.