Download high-resolution image
Listen to a clip from the audiobook
audio pause button
0:00
0:00

Sport

Listen to a clip from the audiobook
audio pause button
0:00
0:00
Eleven-year-old Sport Rocque is living a happy life, keeping his father?s absentmindedness under control, and managing the family budget. When Kate, Sport?s new?and nice?stepmother enters the picture, things couldn?t be better. Then comes the news: Sport?s wealthy grandfather has just died and Sport is a multimillionaire.
   But millions of dollars equals millions of problems, as Sport soon discovers when his mother returns and kidnaps him to double her share of the inheritance! Life at the Plaza Hotel is no fun when you?re a prisoner. Will Sport manage to return his life to normal?

Praise for Harriet the Spy® and Her Friends
 
Harriet the Spy®

“Harriet is . . . wholly relatable whether you’re eleven or several times that age.”—EW.com
 
Harriet Spies Again
By Louise Fitzhugh and Helen Ericson
Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Novel

“Ericson has perfectly captured the voice and pacing of Fitzhugh’s original novel in a seamless rendering of a fresh, enjoyable story for today’s readers.” —School Library Journal

Harriet the Spy, Double Agent
By Louise Fitzhugh and Maya Gold

“Harriet the Spy is back, and Gold does a credible job of maintaining the special character and her crusty charm.” —Booklist

The Long Secret

[STAR] “Written with subtlety, compassion, and [Louise Fitzhugh’s] remarkable ability to see inside the minds of children.” —School Library Journal, Starred
 
Sport

[STAR] “A worthy successor to Harriet the Spy—and that is high tribute.” —Booklist, Starred
Chapter One

Don't you understand that I was once fifteen years old? That I looked at my mother the same way you're looking at me? That I see the hatred in your eyes and the despair and the love and all of it?"

"I'm eleven," said Sport. "I'll be twelve next month."

Charlotte Vane had turned away. Her long, thin body leaned toward the window, her forehead touched the drape for one brief second, and then she turned back again.

"You've got a goddamned literal mind. You listen to me, little boy, because you've got one or two things you better get into your head right now. I'm not a dreamer like your father. I like money. I like money very much."

Sport sat looking up at his mother, his face blank. He shifted one leg uneasily.

"And don't wiggle. If there's anything I hate more than little boys, it's wiggling little boys."

Sport had a dark feeling, like being an unfriendly spider. I want to get out of this room, he thought, I want to get out and go back home and make my father pick up his socks.

"Your grandfather, Simon Vane, the old wretch, is down there in that sitting room dying right this minute. Your grandfather liked money a lot. Your grandfather made thirty million dollars. Made it. Do you understand that? He made it himself. He got up in the morning and he went downtown and he made it."

Sport thought of the thin, small body downstairs, of the hands you could see through, the gaunt, tiny head, the clouded, unseeing eyes, eyes that used to light up, and the mouth that used to say, "Ah! Here's my boy! Here's my real son," whenever Sport walked into the room.

"He didn't sit around all day in front of a stupid toy, tap-tapping, tap-tapping, that damned tapping, you couldn't get away from it. He didn't dream . . . dream about writing a book. Where did a book ever get anybody?"

Sport opened his mouth and then closed it. He had wanted to say, "But he published the book. Dad published the book and it was good. He gets royalties. I know just how much." But there wasn't any use. What were those royalty checks next to thirty million dollars? The figure loomed in Sport's mind. He saw himself writing it in his ledger, the one where he kept track of the household spending for himself and his father. He saw it written in red ink. Imagine owing thirty million dollars.

"I know what's in your dirty little boy's brain," said Charlotte loudly. Sport jumped. "I know you want to get away from me. I know you wish to God I'd go back to wherever I came from and never come back. You want to crawl back to that dirty hole of an apartment your father lives in, where he can't even buy you a pair of shoes, much less enough to eat." Charlotte turned and screamed, "He's no good. He's a rotten, no-good bum, your father!"

Sport held his breath. He felt somehow that this was the dead end of his mother's rage. She couldn't go any further. There was no further to go. He waited, watching her gasp, start, and then stop herself from continuing and turn away.

With her back turned to him, she said quietly, "Get out. Get out of this house."

Sport got up quickly. He went out the door and closed it quietly behind him. Once in the dark hall, all his breath came out in a long whoosh. He stood a minute listening, looking into the gloom of the big old house, then ran as fast as he could down the steps.
  • WINNER | 1980
    Texas Bluebonnet Master List
Meet Sport, Harriet’s best friend, in this hilarious companion to Harriet the Spy—now available in paperback!
Louise Fitzhugh (1928-1974) was born in Memphis, Tennessee. She attended Bard College, studied art in Italy and France, and continued her studies in New York at the Art Students League and at Cooper Union. Harriet the Spy was her first novel for children.

View titles by Louise Fitzhugh

About

Eleven-year-old Sport Rocque is living a happy life, keeping his father?s absentmindedness under control, and managing the family budget. When Kate, Sport?s new?and nice?stepmother enters the picture, things couldn?t be better. Then comes the news: Sport?s wealthy grandfather has just died and Sport is a multimillionaire.
   But millions of dollars equals millions of problems, as Sport soon discovers when his mother returns and kidnaps him to double her share of the inheritance! Life at the Plaza Hotel is no fun when you?re a prisoner. Will Sport manage to return his life to normal?

Praise for Harriet the Spy® and Her Friends
 
Harriet the Spy®

“Harriet is . . . wholly relatable whether you’re eleven or several times that age.”—EW.com
 
Harriet Spies Again
By Louise Fitzhugh and Helen Ericson
Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Novel

“Ericson has perfectly captured the voice and pacing of Fitzhugh’s original novel in a seamless rendering of a fresh, enjoyable story for today’s readers.” —School Library Journal

Harriet the Spy, Double Agent
By Louise Fitzhugh and Maya Gold

“Harriet the Spy is back, and Gold does a credible job of maintaining the special character and her crusty charm.” —Booklist

The Long Secret

[STAR] “Written with subtlety, compassion, and [Louise Fitzhugh’s] remarkable ability to see inside the minds of children.” —School Library Journal, Starred
 
Sport

[STAR] “A worthy successor to Harriet the Spy—and that is high tribute.” —Booklist, Starred

Excerpt

Chapter One

Don't you understand that I was once fifteen years old? That I looked at my mother the same way you're looking at me? That I see the hatred in your eyes and the despair and the love and all of it?"

"I'm eleven," said Sport. "I'll be twelve next month."

Charlotte Vane had turned away. Her long, thin body leaned toward the window, her forehead touched the drape for one brief second, and then she turned back again.

"You've got a goddamned literal mind. You listen to me, little boy, because you've got one or two things you better get into your head right now. I'm not a dreamer like your father. I like money. I like money very much."

Sport sat looking up at his mother, his face blank. He shifted one leg uneasily.

"And don't wiggle. If there's anything I hate more than little boys, it's wiggling little boys."

Sport had a dark feeling, like being an unfriendly spider. I want to get out of this room, he thought, I want to get out and go back home and make my father pick up his socks.

"Your grandfather, Simon Vane, the old wretch, is down there in that sitting room dying right this minute. Your grandfather liked money a lot. Your grandfather made thirty million dollars. Made it. Do you understand that? He made it himself. He got up in the morning and he went downtown and he made it."

Sport thought of the thin, small body downstairs, of the hands you could see through, the gaunt, tiny head, the clouded, unseeing eyes, eyes that used to light up, and the mouth that used to say, "Ah! Here's my boy! Here's my real son," whenever Sport walked into the room.

"He didn't sit around all day in front of a stupid toy, tap-tapping, tap-tapping, that damned tapping, you couldn't get away from it. He didn't dream . . . dream about writing a book. Where did a book ever get anybody?"

Sport opened his mouth and then closed it. He had wanted to say, "But he published the book. Dad published the book and it was good. He gets royalties. I know just how much." But there wasn't any use. What were those royalty checks next to thirty million dollars? The figure loomed in Sport's mind. He saw himself writing it in his ledger, the one where he kept track of the household spending for himself and his father. He saw it written in red ink. Imagine owing thirty million dollars.

"I know what's in your dirty little boy's brain," said Charlotte loudly. Sport jumped. "I know you want to get away from me. I know you wish to God I'd go back to wherever I came from and never come back. You want to crawl back to that dirty hole of an apartment your father lives in, where he can't even buy you a pair of shoes, much less enough to eat." Charlotte turned and screamed, "He's no good. He's a rotten, no-good bum, your father!"

Sport held his breath. He felt somehow that this was the dead end of his mother's rage. She couldn't go any further. There was no further to go. He waited, watching her gasp, start, and then stop herself from continuing and turn away.

With her back turned to him, she said quietly, "Get out. Get out of this house."

Sport got up quickly. He went out the door and closed it quietly behind him. Once in the dark hall, all his breath came out in a long whoosh. He stood a minute listening, looking into the gloom of the big old house, then ran as fast as he could down the steps.

Awards

  • WINNER | 1980
    Texas Bluebonnet Master List

Reviews

Meet Sport, Harriet’s best friend, in this hilarious companion to Harriet the Spy—now available in paperback!

Author

Louise Fitzhugh (1928-1974) was born in Memphis, Tennessee. She attended Bard College, studied art in Italy and France, and continued her studies in New York at the Art Students League and at Cooper Union. Harriet the Spy was her first novel for children.

View titles by Louise Fitzhugh