Fitzhugh had written another young adult manuscript, Amelia, about two girls falling in love, but it was never published, and has since been lost.įitzhugh died at the premature age of 46 of a brain aneurysm, in the year 1974. At the time, this was far more controversial than it is today. Fitzhugh did many of the illustrations for her own books.įitzhugh's characters were popular among girls who did not conform to a traditionally feminine stereotype. The first is called The Long Secret, which deals with female puberty, and the second is Sport, which follows Harriet's best friend Sport.

Two sequels followed, both of which centered on some of the book's supporting characters. Harriet the Spy has become a classic of children's literature, and was named to the New York Times Outstanding Book Award list in 1964. She published her own children's novel, Harriet the Spy, in 1964. In 1961, early on in her career, Fitzhugh illustrated the children's book Suzuki Beane, written by author Sandra Scoppettone to be a parody of the celebrated children's book Eloise. Following her education, she spent the majority of her life living in New York City, with houses on Long Island and in Connecticut. She attended Miss Hutchinson's School in Memphis and studied at numerous universities and art schools, including Bard College and Cooper Union, before graduating from Barnard College in 1950. Bustle Leslie Brody paints a portrait of Fitzhugh that’s almost as indelible as Harriet herselfdeeply endearing introduction to the woman who gave the American canon one of its icons. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1928, and lived with her father after her parents divorced when she was an infant. Louise Fitzhugh remains a mystery to this day, but Leslie Brody’s new book works to pull back the curtain on Fitzhugh’s sensational life. Louise Fitzhugh was both a writer and illustrator of children's books, most famous for her Harriet the Spyseries.

Louise fitzhugh books