Heidi

Overview

Heartwarming tale of a cheerful orphan sent to live with her hermit-like grandfather high in the Swiss Alps. There, she transforms the lives of Peter, a goatherd; Peter's blind grandmother; Clara, a well-to-do but sickly girl; and even the old Alm-Uncle, Heidi's surly grandfather. A delightful story 'for children and those who love children.'

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454945666
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	09/13/2022
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	1000L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Johanna Spyri (1827-1901), a lifelong resident of Switzerland, began to write stories to earn money for refugees from the Franco-Prussian War. Heidi, her first novel, was also her most successful, though she wrote many other children's books. Spyri's firm belief in the natural innocence of children and their ability to grow up into decent, caring adults if left to their own devices was remarkably similar to that of her Danish contemporary, Hans Christian Andersen.

Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935) was one of the most popular and successful American illustrators of the early twentieth century. A student at Howard Pyle's Brandywine School of American Illustration, her hundreds of magazine illustrations and more than forty illustrated books include Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses (1905), Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies (1916), and George MacDonald's At the Back of the North Wind (1919) and The Princess and the Goblin (1920).

Peter Glassman is the owner of Books of Wonder, the New York City bookstore and publisher specializing in new and old imaginative books for children. He is also the editor of the Books of Wonder Classics, a series of deluxe facsimiles and newly illustrated editions of timeless tales. And he is the author of The Wizard Next Door, illustrated by Steven Kellogg. Mr. Glassman lives in New York City.

Read an Excerpt

Heidi

Chapter One

Up The Mountain To Alm-Uncle

From the old and pleasantly situated village of Mayenfeld, a footpath winds through green and shady meadows to the foot of the mountains, which on this side look down from their stern and lofty heights upon the valley below. The land grows gradually wilder as the path ascends, and the climber has not gone far before he begins to inhale the fragrance of the short grass and sturdy mountain-plants, for the way is steep and leads directly up to the summits above.

On a clear sunny morning in June two figures might be seen climbing the narrow mountain path; one a tall, strong-looking girl, the other a child whom she was leading by the hand, and whose little cheeks were so aglow with heat that the crimson color could be seen even through the dark, sunburnt skin. And this was hardly to be wondered at, for in spite of the hot June sun the child was clothed as if to keep off the bitterest frost. She did not look more than five years old, if as much, but what her natural figure was like, it would have been hard to say, for she had apparently two, if not three dresses, one above the other, and over these a thick red woollen shawl wound round about her, so that the little body presented a shapeless appearance, as, with its small feet shod in thick, nailed mountainshoes, it slowly and laboriously plodded its way up in the heat. The two must have left the valley a good hour's walk behind them, when they came to the hamlet known as Dorfli, which is situated half-way up the mountain. Here the wayfarers met with greetings from all sides, some calling to themfrom windows, some from open doors, others from outside, for the elder girl was now in her old home. She did not, however, pause in her walk to respond to her friends' welcoming cries and questions, but passed on without stopping for a moment until she reached the last of the scattered houses of the hamlet. Here a voice called to her from the door: "Wait a moment, Dete; if you are going up higher, I will come with you."

The girl thus addressed stood still, and the child immediately let go her hand and seated herself on the ground.

"Are you tired, Heidi?" asked her companion.

"No, I am hot," answered the child.

"We shall soon get to the top now. You must walk bravely on a little longer, and take good long steps, and in another hour we shall be there," said Dete in an encouraging voice.

They were now joined by a stout, good-natured-looking woman, who walked on ahead with her old acquaintance, the two breaking forth at once into lively conversation about everybody and everything in Dorfli and its surroundings, while the child wandered behind them.

"And where are you off to with the child?" asked the one who had just joined the party. "I suppose it is the child your sister left? "

"Yes, " answered Dete. " I am taking her up to Uncle, where she must stay."

"The child stay up there with Alm-Uncle! You must be out of your senses, Dete! How can you think of such a thing! The old man, however, will soon send you and your proposal packing off home again!"

"He cannot very well do that, seeing that he is her grandfather. He must do something for her. I have had the charge of the child till now, and I can tell you, Barbel, I am not going to give up the chance which has just fallen to me of getting a good place, for her sake. It is for the grandfather now to do his duty by her."

"That would be all very well if he were like other people," asseverated stout Barbel warmly, "but you know what he is. And what can he do with a child, especially with one so young! The child cannot possibly live with him. But where are you thinking of going yourself?"

"To Frankfurt, where an extra good place awaits me," answered Dete. "The people I am going to were down at the Baths last summer, and it was part of my duty to attend upon their rooms. They would have liked then to take me away with them, but I could not leave. Now they are there again and have repeated their offer, and I intend to go with them, you may make up your mind to that! "

"I am glad I am not the child!" exclaimed Barbel, with a gesture of horrified pity. " Not a creature knows anything about the old man up there! He will have nothing to do with anybody, and never sets his foot inside a church from one year's end to another. When he does come down once in a while, everybody clears out of the way of him and his big stick. The mere sight of him, with his bushy gray eyebrows and his immense beard, is alarming enough. He looks like any old heathen or Indian, and few would care to meet him alone."

"Well, and what of that?" said Dete, in a defiant voice, "he is the grandfather all the same, and must look after the child. He is not likely to do her any harm, and if he does, he will be answerable for it, not I"

"I should very much like to know," continued Barbel, in an inquiring tone of voice, " what the old man has on his conscience that he looks as he does, and lives up there on the mountain like a hermit, hardly ever allowing himself to be seen. All kinds of things are said about him. You, Dete, however, must certainly have learnt a good deal concerning him from your sister-am I not right? 11

"You are right, I did, but I am not going to repeat what I heard; if it should come to his ears I should get into trouble about it."

Interviews

Johanna Spyri was born in 1827 in Hirzel, Switzerland. In 1852, she moved to Zürich, where she began to write stories about life in the country. Heidi’s Years of Wandering and Learning, usually abbreviated as Heidi, is by far the most well known. Published throughout the world, it has inspired more than twenty film or television productions, a musical drama, and a tourist area—Heidiland—in Switzerland. Johanna Spyri died in 1901.

Maja Dusíková was born in Piestany, Czechoslovakia, and now lives in Florence, Italy. One of the most celebrated children’s book illustrators in Europe, she has a pet rabbit named Cici that runs under her table while she paints and doesn’t like carrots.

Editorial Reviews

Heidi is a young girl who lives with her aunt. Surprisingly, Aunt Dete has just taken a job in Frankfurt and Heidi is unable to travel with her. Instead she is to go live in the mountains with her grandfather. Grandfather is at first unhappy to see Heidi. He is unsure of how he will entertain her or even where she will sleep. Heidi joyfully finds a little spot in the hayloft and makes herself at home on the hay. She loves to gaze out the window at the valley below. Grandfather shares her love of the beauty of the mountain and begins to appreciate her sweet spirit. As the months pass, Heidi makes friends with Peter, the shepherd boy, and his grandmother. She visits them regularly and brings joy to all she comes into contact with. Aunt Dete becomes engaged and returns for Heidi. Her fiance is looking for a friend for his daughter, Klara, who is confined to a wheelchair. Heidi is deeply saddened to leave the mountain but must obey her aunt. While in Frankfurt, she learns to read and becomes close with Klara. But Heidi misses her grandfather and the beauty of the mountain. Her sadness makes her ill. She is unable to eat and becomes frail and thin. She is then sent back to live on the mountain with her grandfather and is elated to be home again. Youngsters will be exposed to a different culture and will enjoy the classic illustrations. Reviewer: Summer Whiting

Children's Literature - Summer Whiting

Dozens of editions are available of this classic tale about a Swiss mountain girl who is sent to live with a strange family in town, leaving behind her irascible but lovable grandfather. New editions or, as in this case, reissues of previous editions, must earn their space on the crowded bookshelf. This version does so from beginning to end. The book opens with an introduction by the British novelist Eva Ibbotson, who was born in Austria. Although she admits that she has never milked a goat, she movingly recalls her family's escape from Hitler, feeling displaced in England, and learning English, in part, through reading Heidi, her favorite book, in translation. The book concludes with a Q&A about Johanna Spyri, a summary of the characters, activities related to the novel and its setting, and information about Switzerland and cheese-making. Although the paper is not the highest quality and might not withstand handling by multiple readers, the illustrations are charmingly old-fashioned. Reviewer: Cynthia Levinson

Children's Literature - Cynthia Levinson

PreS-Gr 3—The text in this picture-book version of the story flows smoothly while incorporating many incidents from the original. Dusíková's watercolor illustrations feature rosy-cheeked children, cuddly goats, and flowering hillside pastures. The images enhance the narrative and reveal enough in themselves for browsers to understand the basic plot. Although not an essential purchase, the book provides an attractive option for those wishing to introduce the classic tale to a young audience.—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato

School Library Journal

Squeezing a 300-page (give or take a few) classic into a mere 32 pages may sound impossible, but this new Swiss translation not only pulls it off, it never sacrifices heart for succinct storytelling in the doing. Spyri's novel of a young girl who is sent to live with her grandfather in the mountains is retold here with accompanying lush watercolors and wide, sweeping panoramas. Dus'kova taps into the emotional core of this tale, making it accessible to all but the youngest readers. Though this version does rely to some extent on reducing individual scenes into their most essential parts, the narrative is smooth and consistent. Some parents will eschew this version for a bedtime reading of the original, but for those youngest children who still need a swath of beautiful pictures to carry them through the story, this may well fit the bill. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews

 • "Many a childhood vision of the Alps was founded on the nineteenth-century Swiss classic." —Guardian

From the Publisher