I promise that it isn’t a copout to quote the 1996 movie version of Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy to introduce a playlist dedicated to Harriet M. Welsch, its notebook-keeping, sleuthing protagonist. It’s just that it says everything that needs to be said in a nutshell:

Harriet: I want to remember everything. And I want to know everything.

Golly [her nanny]: Well, you must realize, Harriet, knowing everything won’t do you a bit of good unless you use it to put beauty in this world. True or false?

Harriet: True.

Golly: Of course it is.

Cover of Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh.

Illustration by Minna.

Illustration by Minna.