Louise Fitzhugh

Eleven-year-old Harriet keeps notes on her classmates and neighbors in a secret notebook, but when some of the students read the notebook, they seek revenge.

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....

Through a series of family disagreements over her seven-year-old brother's efforts to become a dancer and her own determination to be a lawyer, eleven-year-old Emma realizes that it is up to children to take the initiative since parents rarely change.

While spying on her New York City neighborhood with a new friend, Annie, twelve-year-old Harriet decides that the only way to learn Annie's many secrets is to spy on her, as well.