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From: Kathleen T. Horning <khorning>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 15:47:41 -0500
On July 9, Susan Griffith wrote: "I think the book's setting in an upper crust section of NYC actually gives it a romantic, sort of exotic appeal--it almost has to be set somewhere remote from most children, otherwise how could we imagine it happening?"
Susan makes an interesting point about the interplay between HTS's setting and its romantic/realistic qualities. Do you other readers find the book to be romantic or realistic?
Many of our subscribers have just returned from the annual ALA conference in New York City and there were several HTS sites included in Judy Zuckerman's walking tour of NYC in children's books which was published in the July issue of "School Library Journal." I took the "Harriet The Spy" leg of the tour last week and the thing that most impressed be was how much more real the book suddenly seemed to me after being there. The entire setting of
"Harriet The Spy" covers about a three-block radius surrounding the area where Louise Fitzhugh was living when she wrote the book. There were the shops, the school, the park, and Harriet's apartment. There was almost a small-town feel to the place and it wouldn't have seemed at all unusual for an eleven-year-old girl to have been out on her own exploring in the area. I almost expected to see Harriet herself come walking around the corner!
KT Horning, CCBC
University of Wisconsin
********************************************************** K.T. Horning Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 khorning at facstaff.wisc.edu
Received on Thu 18 Jul 1996 03:47:41 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 15:47:41 -0500
On July 9, Susan Griffith wrote: "I think the book's setting in an upper crust section of NYC actually gives it a romantic, sort of exotic appeal--it almost has to be set somewhere remote from most children, otherwise how could we imagine it happening?"
Susan makes an interesting point about the interplay between HTS's setting and its romantic/realistic qualities. Do you other readers find the book to be romantic or realistic?
Many of our subscribers have just returned from the annual ALA conference in New York City and there were several HTS sites included in Judy Zuckerman's walking tour of NYC in children's books which was published in the July issue of "School Library Journal." I took the "Harriet The Spy" leg of the tour last week and the thing that most impressed be was how much more real the book suddenly seemed to me after being there. The entire setting of
"Harriet The Spy" covers about a three-block radius surrounding the area where Louise Fitzhugh was living when she wrote the book. There were the shops, the school, the park, and Harriet's apartment. There was almost a small-town feel to the place and it wouldn't have seemed at all unusual for an eleven-year-old girl to have been out on her own exploring in the area. I almost expected to see Harriet herself come walking around the corner!
KT Horning, CCBC
University of Wisconsin
********************************************************** K.T. Horning Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 khorning at facstaff.wisc.edu
Received on Thu 18 Jul 1996 03:47:41 PM CDT
