Taking It to the Streets

Abstract

This chapter discusses ways in which the production of space in Harriet the Spy reveals how children participate in producing their culture. Harriet’s production of social space, and her idiosyncratic voice combined with a limited third-person narrative, allows readers access to Harriet’s mental spaces. These two devices illustrate that adults in the novel are unable to colonize Harriet’s ability to think space and actively produce new social spaces. Critics of children’s literature often argue that adults attempt to colonize children through their texts. This chapter contends that Harriet the Spy and its depiction of the construction of social space by its protagonist displays that children have a great deal of agency in the production of social space and culture.