25.9.09

thursday

How I became a spy:


God bless Louise Fitzhugh! I have been slowly trying to ink out tributes to a few of my favorite children's books and authors (and boy, do I mean slowly...). Words can do little justice to express how much books like Harriet the Spy meant to me as a kid and continue to mean to me as a growing lady; especially since I can't even watch the trailer for WTWTA without shedding a handful of tears. Like many other little ladies, I ate my fair share of tomato sandwiches, spent too much time in the bathtub trying to scrub that permanent freckle off of my right foot, and hid in bushes scribbling furiously on my fifty cent notebooks from the pharmacy. I admired Harriet's pluck, her passion for the written word, and her appreciation for a cool glass of milk with a slice of cake! At the age of seven, I traded in my barbies for things like silly putty, fake mustaches, and electric blue pencil sharpeners. It was, I felt, my duty to write down how many ant hills I saw on my walk to my best friend's house, her brother's boring conversations, and to figure out just why our neighbors only came out of their house late at night (late then meaning past seven o'clock). In fact, two years ago, I went so far as to try a milky egg cream for the first time in Harriet's honor. I'd never tasted something so dull and unfulfilling, but I drank every single drop as if it were the last!





And honest to goodness, every once in a while, when I'm researching for a paper or for fun (is it really research though when you enjoy it?), I feel just about as sleuthy as Harriet must have felt before she was caught in the dumbwaiter!



13 comments:

  1. haha yea, I also wanted to be a spy/detective when I was little but because of 'The Three Investigators'. I used to read the books all the time when I was little and I still have all the books on tape :)

    Your outfit looks really cute and very spy-like!

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  2. I don't think I ever wanted to be a spy when I was little but this post is making me feel like I missed out on something big, but it's never to late to start - right?

    Very cute spy-like outfit!

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  3. MAN i missed out on all the fun by skipping out on the Tom-boy phase! I was decked out in tutu's and tea party apparel my entire youth and the most tom boy i ever got was wearing a backwards cap at Disney world once! :S

    you make me think I was missing out!

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  4. Omg this is wonderful, I did the same thing!! Gosh I loved Harriet. I had notebooks too and would write everything down and try to be like her.

    I REALLY need to watch the movie again- I haven't even seen it since I was a kid! That will be some intense nostalgia.

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  5. My two younger sisters & I were in LOVE with Harriet the Spy when we were younger (and it's probably why two of us are such avid writers now). We would spy in "teams", or assign specific tasks to each other and meet back at "HQ" to report. So much fun!
    I cried at that preview; it was the first that I've seen!

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  6. oh boy. harriet the spy has been my absolute favorite book, heroine and spy since the age of 9!
    i too have always been quite a fan of tomato sandwiches :)

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  7. This was an awesome tribute and the cutest!

    I was a very unimaginative child with my barbies only...

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  8. I managed to scrub that freckle off. You can hardly see it now.

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  9. I'm right there with you on wanting to be a spy or detective, haha. Welcome to my childhood.

    P.S. Love those gloves.

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  10. Gosh, I also started drinking egg creams because of Harriet, but I love them! You should give them a second chance!

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  11. LOVE the argyle knee socks!

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  13. I got the book 'Harriet the Spy' for my 10th birthday. Since my name is also Harriet, it became a bit of a nickname among my classmates, especially after the film came out, and because I am rather bookish. great post!

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