HARRIET SPIES AGAIN

Louise Fitzhugh's sassy, young snoop, Harriet Welsch, was featured in three novels in the 1960s and '70s, which took her and her Upper West Side friends on adventures that were, in their day, provocative and revolutionary for children's literature. Ericson's sequel, written almost thirty years after Fitzhugh's death, preserves the tone and characters in a new challenge in which Harriet must unravel a mystery surrounding her beloved nanny, "Ole Golly." Anne Bobby's reading unfortunately misses much of the feel of Harriet, rendering the story in the style of a prissy kindergarten teacher rather than an 11-year-old tomboy. Nevertheless, the story is worthwhile, even for dedicated fans of the original. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 04]