Harriet the Spy lives in a comfortable brownstone in the east eighties in Manhattan. 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, Old Golly...and a secret notebook which she fills with utterly honest jottings about her parents, her classmates, and her neighbors. 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 each day on her spy route "observing" and noting down, in her singular, caustic, comic way, everything of interest to her.The first blow falls when Old Golly leaves, the second when Harriet's schoolmates find and read her notebook. Their anger and retaliation, Harriet's unexpected responses, and the ingenious methods of her teachers and parents use to help turn Harriet the Spy into Harriet M. Welsch combine to make a touching and unusual story.