Heartwarming / The Long Secret

• Harriet hangs out with Beth Ellen throughout the summer, and Janie visits for a weekend. She also mentions Sport as a friend. Whatever damage the events of Harriet the Spy had caused have been repaired. Even though Harriet continues to write in her notebook, nobody even brings up any of the issues of the previous book.
• Harriet is shown to be closer to her parents, even having a spiritual discussion with her father. Her mom is seen as a more loving and encouraging influence compared to Beth Ellen's mother, who lives as a traveling lady of leisure who neglects her daughter, expects Beth Ellen to have Acceptable Feminine Goals, and throws a fit when Beth Ellen says she wants to go to college and pursue a career as an artist, naming Harriet's mother (who is married to her ex-boyfriend) as a bad influence on her and Harriet. It's somehow nice to see Mrs. Welsch as more than a clueless Trophy Wife.
• Also Beth Ellen, despite her grandmother being old-fashioned and playing cards and leaving her with a nanny who diets a lot, would rather live with her grandmother than with her Rich Bitch mother.
• There is a scene that pre-dates Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. where Beth Ellen gets her first period and both Janie and Harriet comfort her by saying every woman gets it, even Marie Curie, their hero, and a) there is nothing wrong with her and b) far from the "welcome to the wonderful world of womanhood" jazz that was in so much literature for girls on this subject at that time, Janie flat-out hates it and declares her intention to find a cure. She also disabuses Beth Ellen of some myths she's picked up about it from her grandmother. Real solid messaging for a YA book in the 1960s.

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