The scene is a small town on Long Island; the writing is not nearly as seriously funny as in the original; and even though...
This is more about that spankingly (spankably?) fresh heroine Harriet The Spy whose initial appearance occasioned all kinds of discussion among those who monitor juvenile literature; some thought she wasn't very "nice"; some even took the position that she was "sick."
In any case, in this sequel, Harriet is much less of a controversial character, and, sadly, she's lost lots of her sassy spriteliness. There are however occasional sequences which make the book, rather than Harriet, vaguely (very vaguely, by our standards) liable to censure. There is some consideration of religion with a valid if unorthodox conclusion—"It is a tool to get through life with. And if it works, it is a good tool. And if it don't work, it is a bad tool." Then there's a perfectly natural short discussion of that natural feminine phenomenon, menstruation, which occurs at this age but is seldom mentioned in juvenile fiction at this age level... Beyond that, The Long Secret is not as good, or perhaps cohesive, a story as the first one, partly because Harriet is subsidiary to her friend Beth Ellen. Beth Ellen's life is now disrupted by the reappearance of her delinquent but glamorous mother whom she hadn't seen in seven years. Her mother arrives, along with a new marital acquisition, and subjects Beth Ellen to Elizabeth Arden, the Bath & Tennis Club and a whole unwanted worldly sphere of life. In this case, Mother doesn't know best and is sent away, back to Europe. And this situation is not only an innovation but a dramatic reversal of the accepted "good family relationship" which usually obtains in books for and about the young... What about Harriet? She's busy too, trying to find out just who has been littering the community with threatening Biblical admonitions and the culprit will come as a surprise...
The scene is a small town on Long Island; the writing is not nearly as seriously funny as in the original; and even though Louise Fitzhugh is still well ahead of the field, the book is not as appealing as the first.Pub Date: Oct. 27, 1965
ISBN: 978-0-440-41819-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1965
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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