Summary
Harriet awakens the next morning and, after going downstairs, finds out that she had been allowed to sleep until noon and miss school. The cook tells her her parents are upstairs talking about her, so she slinks off to eavesdrop. Her father is on the phone with Dr. Wagner, the psychiatrist, who appears to claim that Harriet is all right. She does not catch every word her parents say, but it sounds as if Dr. Wagner recommended the school assign her some kind of project to keep her busy.
Her parents keep her out of school for a few days, but Harriet still does not know what is going on. She follows her spy route daily, and observes a lot of things. Little Joe Curry is caught stealing a whole ham and giving it to three hungry children, but Mama Dei Santi is so touched by the scene that she does not fire him. Mrs. Plumber flies around from party to party and does excessive charity work even though the doctor had confined her to her bed, and Harrison Withers actually seems happy despite the loss of his cats. She quickly realizes it is because he has somehow gotten a little black-and-white kitten.
After three days out of school, Harriet is wishing she were back. She decides to spy on what is happening with the clubhouse in Rachel's garden. Marion, Beth Ellen, and Rachel are there, and Marion warns them that they have to be careful who they allow into the club. Marion nominates herself as president of the club, and, of course, Rachel and Beth Ellen support it. Rachel is made Vice President, and Beth Ellen secretary-treasurer. They discuss the issue of Sport and Janie having the wrong attitude for the club. As the other students begin to arrive to the clubhouse a rainstorm starts, and Harriet runs home, soaked.
Three days later, a bored Harriet receives a letter from Ole Golly. She acknowledges that Harriet is right to always write the truth in her notebooks, but in the event that others read it, there are two things she has to do: first, she has to apologize, and second, she has to lie. Otherwise, she is going to lose friends. Telling little white lies to make a person feel good is okay, even though she must always tell the truth to herself. Ole Golly finishes the letter by telling her to stop missing her, because Ole Golly does not miss Harriet—instead, her time with Harriet has become a lovely memory to cherish, but not something to keep looking back at. It is time, she says, for Harriet to get busy growing up to be the person she wants to be.
This letter raises Harriet's spirits the way nothing else has. As per instructions Ole Golly gave her at the beginning of her letter, Harriet takes all her thoughts and observations that she writes down and writes a story about them, typing it up on her father's typewriter. The next day she returns to school, and Miss Elson makes a special announcement that they have decided to make someone else editor of the Sixth Grade Page, since being both class officer and editor is too much work for one person to handle. They have decided that Harriet is the best writer in the class and should be the first person chosen as editor, while Beth Ellen will take the second half of the year.
Marion, the class officer and former editor, is angry, and attempts to raise a complaint on behalf of the Spy Catcher Club, claiming that this group of which she is president does not approve of this arrangement. Miss Elson holds a vote, and surprisingly, the majority of the class say they do want Harriet and Beth Ellen to be editors. From there, it is settled.
Harriet quickly gets out the first edition of the Sixth Grade page, and the morning it is released, everyone at school is reading it. She has written a small story about each of the people she spies on on her spy route, and her writing is gripping and immersive. Encouraged, Harriet is constantly on alert for new information, paying close attention to her parents' conversations to get material for the Sixth Grade Page. In one of these conversations her father mentions the word "retraction," and explains to Harriet that it is when a newspaper admits in print that they have made a mistake in their reporting and provides the correct information along with it.
The next few issues of the Sixth Grade Page contain interesting information about the students, the neighborhood, and the community, derived from information that Harriet has found out by listening in on conversations. Most of the students actually enjoy reading this sometimes-scandalous information. Harriet prints a cryptic passage about certain people wanting to take over the Spy Catcher Club and prevent others from being in it, and it comes out that that was what Marion was planning.
Chaos erupts at the clubhouse that afternoon, which Harriet observes from her spying vantage point. Some of the students leave Rachel's house in an angry huff; only Laura and Carrie remain with Marion, and the club seems to have dissolved. Harriet decides the time has come, so she prints a retraction in the Sixth Grade Page, retracting the unfair and unkind statements that had been made in her notebook about the other kids in her class. Not wanting to see everyone's reaction, she feigns sick and stays home from school the next day. Feeling strangely calm and happy, she takes a walk in the park and eventually sees Sport and Janie there too, coming towards her.
She watches them for a moment, and writes some things in her notebook. They wait patiently for her to finish, and when she does, the three of them fall into step together, walking along the river.
Analysis
It may seem, at first, that Ole Golly stepping in to help Harriet means that Harriet has not yet matured enough to solve her own problems. However, Ole Golly simply gives Harriet the push she needs to get going and take matters into her own hands to fix this situation. She reminds Harriet that she has the power to become the person she wants to be, and that she should not miss her—instead, she should focus her energy on being the best version of herself. Accepting advice from a trusted mentor does not make one immature; by standing up and acting on Ole Golly's advice on her own, she proves that she's truly grown up.
Even in a letter, Ole Golly has a certain way of speaking to Harriet that other adults do not. She treats Harriet intelligently in her correspondence, and never adopts the patronizing air that even Harriet's own parents have when speaking to her. She always seems to know exactly what Harriet needs to hear, and provides a perfect blend of support and tough love that can motivate Harriet the way nothing else can. We first saw this early on in the book, when Ole Golly was able to cleverly convince Harriet that dancing school fit into her plan to be a spy. Now, we see it when Ole Golly is the only adult whose wisdom and advice for dealing with her shattered friendships gets through to her.
Ole Golly's advice is simple: first, to apologize for what she'd written, and second, to lie. Little white lies to the people you love may seem intuitive, but as a budding spy, Harriet has spent her life obsessed with discovering and stating only the truth. She is blunt, forward, and unfiltered, firm in her belief that the truth is necessary even though it may not be what everyone wants to hear. However, in order to be successful she must also prioritize her relationships, and in order to do this, she has to be conscious about the way the things she says affect other people's feelings. Ole Golly's advice is an important lesson for readers, as well—not only Harriet herself. We are meant to learn along with the book's protagonist.
Aside from Ole Golly's advice, the other part of the solution to Harriet's problem is the job she is given as editor of the Sixth Grade Page. Why does this help? First, because she is a talented, engaging writer, and the kids in her class are intrigued by the stories she writes. They begin to like and respect her more for them. Second, it directs her interest in spying—something that is often considered invasive and rude—towards a nobler purpose: journalism. Journalism is like a universally accepted version of spying: it employs the same skills of listening, observation, and intuition, but when she molds the information she gleans to suit the public eye, Harriet is able to avoid hurting anybody. This editing job is a non-destructive way for Harriet to channel her interests, and it also allows her to speak publicly to the class, even though they will not speak to her.
Harriet is clever, and finds a way to dismantle the Spy Catcher Club without directly implicating herself in the process. In the end, despite what she wrote on the Sixth Grade Page, the club broke up because the students realized that simply bonding over being angry at someone else is not a way to form a true friendship. Sport and Janie were not suddenly going to enjoy Marion Hawthorne's company just because circumstances pushed them together, and once they realized their differences and Marion's manipulation, it was only a matter of time before the club dissolved. Once this happened, Sport and Janie set on the path to becoming friends with Harriet once more.
The book has a peculiar ending, leaving a few questions unanswered. We never learn what the rest of the class thought about Harriet's retraction, nor are we given any conversation between Harriet, Sport, and Janie to establish that they are friends again. We do see, however, the three of them quite literally fall into step the way they had before all this happened, walking side by side along the river. Harriet had finally apologized, publicly, and Janie and Sport did not need to exchange any words to show they had forgiven her, especially since words—the ones Harriet had written—were what got them into this mess in the first place. The end of this book sends an important message: some things are better left unspoken.
