What to Read Next If You Like Harriet the Spy

Harriet the Spy was our first rebel heroine, a smart girl who spies for the sheer pleasure of it. We’ve rounded up a Harriet-inspired reading list for every level starring other renegade girls are worthy follow-ups to her literary legacy.

Have you watched the animated Harriet the Spy adaptation on Apple TV+? What did you think?

Your next picture book

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes features an equally likable little rebel. Like Harriet, Lilly accidentally creates conflict with people she cares about; like Harriet, she has to figure out how to make things right while still being true to who she is.


Your Next Chapter Book

Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry

Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry also focuses on a budding writer who sometimes finds herself at odds with life. Anastasia’s artsy parents are a little more in touch than Harriet’s, but Anastasia and Harriet share an independence and introspection that make them literary soul sisters.


Your Next Readaloud

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley is usually shelved in the adult section, but its 11-year-old chemist heroine has plenty of Harriet-style spunk. Flavia sees the world through her own particular lens, making observations and connections that the adults around her don’t always see.


Your Next Teen Read

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart, the tale of a plucky teen who infiltrates the all-male secret society at her snooty boarding school. This seems like your typical teen high school novel, but once you start reading, you realize it’s a whole lot more — not unlike its intrepid heroine.


Your Next Grown-Up Book

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery focuses on precocious Paloma’s life in a Parisian apartment building, where — driven by loneliness and monotony — she vows to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday.


Amy Sharony

Amy Sharony is the founder and editor-in-chief of home | school | life magazine. She's a pretty nice person until someone starts pluralizing things with apostrophes, but then all bets are off.

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