Heidi (Children's Classics)

by Johanna Spyri

book data

4,496 ratings, 3.92 average rating, 339 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		31%
4		35%
3		26%
2		5%
1		1%

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published

September 1st 1998 (first published 1880) by Children's Classics

binding

Hardcover, 352 pages

characters

Heidi

setting

Switzerland

isbn

0517189674 (isbn13: 9780517189672)

description

Johanna Spyri's classic story of a young orphan sent to live with her grumpy grandfather in the Swiss Alps is retold in it's entirety in this beautifu...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 5,331)

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06/12/08

Katie rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

bookshelves: children-ya, favorites-

Read in June, 1977

recommended to Katie by: Grandma
recommends it for: Chilren, adults, adults reading to children

Thanks to all the bowdlerized, Disneyfied stupidifications it's been through, poor old Heidi's story gets a bum rap. In fact, Heidi is no sap, and more to the point, her friend Clara with the wheelchair is no timid Victorian dying violet. Somebody plonked this great big book in my lap when I was seven years old, a good reader, and in need of something heavy to hold me down on a long car trip. It worked; it took me off from my flat prairie summer to a land of purple mountain peaks and jumping ...more

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07/11/08

Anthea Gupta rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

This was always one of my favorites as a child and I still enjoy it (and the sequels, though they are not by Johanna Spyri). It engages with what constitutes good treatment of children.

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08/07/08

Verena rated it:

bookshelves: family-oral-books

A prime example where the movie is far outdone by the book. Loved sharing this with the kids.

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09/06/08

Sarah Boyce rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

It's A classic front to back... A good read for ages 8-10

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01/02/09

Lauren added it (review of isbn 0216893100)

bookshelves: fiction-young-adult

The edition that I actually read is from 1954 and I absolutely loved the tale of the little girl who goes to live with her grandfather in the mountains, etc. She shows a real strength of character and an aptitude to adapt to her surroundings and make the best of the situations in which she finds herself.

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12/27/08

Ryan rated it:

(review of isbn 9685957665)

When I was 14, I ran away from home and lived in various places for a year. Fortunately, I had a family that made sure it wasn't on the street, but I was no less lonely or frightened with a roof over my head. I wasn't raised in any particular faith either - probably not for lack of trying (I remember going to church, just not liking it much or being made to keep going) - and somehow I found a great deal of strength and comfort in this book. Not the 'outdoor-wholesome' thing, but in the Grandmoth...more

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02/21/08

Emily rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

I love Heidi! I feel the same way about the landscape of my home as she does. I love my Idaho mountains and the miles and miles of sagebrush. God's creations inspire people--and I believe they inspire goodness. It is easier for me to remember God in the mountains and valleys and forests and animal pens of the country than in the man-made cities with department stores and skyscrapers lining asphalt roads and concrete sidewalks. I empathize with Heidi's need for home and family and admire her abil...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

2 comments

11/26/08

Annie rated it:

(review of isbn 0893754005)

Read in November, 2008

recommended to Annie by: Danica
recommends it for: Christian children

Wow. There are a few things going on here:

a) This translation is amusingly terrible. A few gems: "Now the children sat up in bed and said each her evening prayer" (284); "'Where are the precipices?' asked the child, but did not stir from her seat, for with every breeze the sweet perfume was wafted to her nostrils" (32); "His father, who followed the same business, and was also called goat-Peter, had been killed while felling wood the year before. His mother, ...more Wow. There are a few things going on here:

a) This translation is amusingly terrible. A few gems: "Now the children sat up in bed and said each her evening prayer" (284); "'Where are the precipices?' asked the child, but did not stir from her seat, for with every breeze the sweet perfume was wafted to her nostrils" (32); "His father, who followed the same business, and was also called goat-Peter, had been killed while felling wood the year before. His mother, whose name was Brigette, was always spoken of as goat-Peterin, or goat-Peter's mother, from the connection; and for everybody far and near his blind grandmother had the same name." (11) (I had to type that last part and read it out loud to understand that people ("far and near") were calling the grandmother goat-Peterin, as well. Because her son had been a goat-herder.) I heard there's a new translation out that is awesome. I think that this one is sweet, but distracting. Very very distracting.

I am considering "translating" the translation into what I think the author might've been trying to say. And then I want to compare that to the "good" translation.

b) This book is really triggering for me, and I knew it was going to be. One of my murky memories about my childhood is that we watched the movie during my church when I was very very little, and I identified with Heidi very very much. It was really creepy reading the book with this in mind, particularly because I was being abused by a grandfather-figure at the time.

This is not likely to be a problem for others (I hope!), and it is actually contributing to my (slightly) positive review-- it is helping me to explore my painful past! I am really learning a lot about how I've identified on an unconscious level with:

c) HEIDI THE MIRACLE-WORKER!!!!

I miss grad school so much. I want to be writing a term paper on this book. Here are my notes:

Heidi = Jesus?
Heidi is a type, not a character. She doesn't develop, and we mostly "hear" other characters telling us how wonderful she is (or in the case of the villain, how awful she is). We aren't "allowed" to form our own opinions of what Heidi is doing because Spyri makes sure we know!!!!! by having all and sundry (everybody far and near!) telling us constantly what a joy she is and how she makes life worth living. One character even says that she will die when Heidi stops coming to visit her.
Heidi (as opposed to the character) is really just a combination of a memoir and a parable: here is how beautiful it is on the Alm (to be fair, it sounds AWESOME!) and if you trust in God, better things will happen than you can even imagine.

The real reason that this book got an okay vote from me is that I totally agree with the premise of the book, in its clumsy way. I truly do believe that everything, especially the things that seem most unfair, is to the good of the Goddess and that the earth and air and elements heal us.

I think I'm going to try the new translation.(less)

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03/30/09

Melissa rated it:

(review of isbn 0689839626)

bookshelves: childrens, classics

Here’s my trouble with Heidi. As a child, I loved the movie versions. In the movies, they showed Heidi spending lots of time with her grandfather in the beginning, building a relationship with him, how her presence made him happy, et cetera. In the book I just didn’t “get” that. I felt Heidi’s relationship with the mountains. I felt Heidi’s relationship with Peter and with the grandmother. But with Grandfather? Not so much. Her affection for him was told but not shown. Perha...more

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06/17/09

Mamamaggie rated it:

(review of isbn 1403705933)

Maggie and I have decided we must reread this selection to better recall but the main things we noted, after having been long-time fans of the temple movie, are that clara goes to the mountain to heal, that rottenmeier is not the evil villainess but rather just a mean lady and detie is more the wicked one as she did not care to look after heidi anymore. We like the images in this version and its color centerfold but should be noted in Spyris original version it is more the simple story of a moun...more

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05/02/09

Dana Dirnberger rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

bookshelves: favorite

Read in May, 2009

This book was really good!!! I LOVED IT!! I have to study the Alps and the main setting of the story is in the Alps, so I thought that that was pretty cool!!! Also I liked it because of the story its self. It was about a little girl about 7/8, named Hiedi. And her mom and dad die and she has to go live with her Aunt. But she has a really bad time there. And hates it there. Then her Aunt gets a job and can't be Heidi's gaurdian anymore. The Aunt then takes her to her Grandfather whom everyon...more

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2 comments

05/26/09

Melani rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

This book was not by any stretch a realistic portrayal of a child growing up in the mountains of Switzerland. It is an idealized portrait of kindness and the effects of nature and civilization on the human spirit. It is a morality tale about prayer and redemption. Yet for all its idealism and predeictability, there is a lot of tension created through the less than perfect characters...like Peter and Alm Uncle.

There is also something to be said for a book which is satisfyingly predi...more

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04/10/09

Tamra rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

bookshelves: want-to-own

Read in April, 2009

recommends it for: anyone who's thinking about being a hermit in the Swiss Alps--take me with you!

I never read this book as a kid. It sounded too girly. But it's a classic, so gave it a shot.

It's a slower read, for normal juvenile lit--owing to the fact, I'm sure, that it was written more than 100 years ago. Compared to other things I've read from the same time period, the book is a page turner! And it's a page turner compared to most of the adult fare I read, too. But it's not a lightweight book in terms of wordiness, length, and descriptions.

It does have a good...more

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01/04/09

Phebe rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

Read in April, 2007

This book is filled with adventure.Its about a little girl who goes to live with her grandfather on the mountain.After 2 years her cousin takes her to live with a very wealthy family.Heidi likes it but misses home.She turns white as a ghost and opens the door every night.They finally take her home.
clara comes to visite her on the mountain.They decide Clara should live there.Her family buys a home in the village.Heidi saves grandmother from near death depression.Heidi stays in the Alps wher...more

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12/30/08

Roisu rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

bookshelves: all-time-favourites, fiction, kids-books

Read in January, 1995

recommends it for: kids and adults

There are some books that I will always remember reading for the first time. This is definetely one of them.

Everything about this book is wonderful. Heidi is an intelligent, perceptive girl who brings light to everyones life, Grandfather is enigmatic, a little intimidating, but really very kind, and Miss. Rottenmeir is horrible! Spri describes Switzerland beautifully. The life in the mountains is idyllic, being surrounded by nature, with hardly any people. The relationship between H...more

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09/03/08

Heidi rated it:

bookshelves: children-middle-grade, classics, favorites, fiction, own-hardback, study-richard

Since I was named after this book, I felt I had a special relationship with it from the beginning, and thank God I found it to be a really good book. I love the following comment from another goodreads reader: "Thanks to all the bowdlerized, Disneyfied stupidifications it's been through, poor old Heidi's story gets a bum rap. In fact, Heidi is no sap, and more to the point, her friend Clara with the wheelchair is no timid Victorian dying violet." In fact, Johanna Spyri, for all her oc...more

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01/16/08

Maggie added it (review of isbn 0510001572)

Heidi is a 5-year-old girl, sent by her aunt to the Alps to live with her grandfather. She spends three wonderful years with her grandfather and grows healthy and robust from the mountain air. One day, her aunt comes back to take Heidi to a school in Germany to study with a disabled girl named Clara. Heidi is sad to leave her grandfather and her home on the mountains. Once in Germany, she is forced to adapt. She must act like a “young lady” and must start behaving properly. Heidi makes these...more

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10/06/07

Rafika Primadesti rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

bookshelves: havebeenread

Read in July, 2005

I was given this book by my aunt who lived in aussie. That was a gift for my birthday. So I directly read it and the story touched me a lot.
Heidi is an orphan girl whose life is real hard. She lives with her aunt, and one day her aunt takes her to a mountain and hands her to an old man. That old man is her grandfather. Heidi enjoys staying there, and she gets more healthy day by day. But one day her aunt comes again and sends her to a rich family house, to accompany a lonely girl named Cla...more

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01/31/09

Nicole rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

Read in October, 2006

I read this in first grade and it still is tempting me to read it again. Heidi is a cut little girl who is sent to live in the Swiss mountains with her grandpa, if I remember it right. Over time she softens her grandpa's hart and he becomes to like her. Then she's taken away to a house with a stubborn girl. Heidi works her magic again and wins the girl's hart. I don't remember everything and some of my review is probably wrong, but one thing I know for sure, it's a great book!

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05/09/09

Pertiegurlie rated it:

(review of isbn 0753454947)

bookshelves: top-gush-worthy-beloved-darling-boo

Read this when I was very little because everyone called me "Heidi" and I wanted to know why. Immediately, I fell in love with every character, from Clara the invalid, to Sebastian the butler to Peter's grandmother, etc. It's not sickly-sweet at all--on the contrary, the plot and circumstances are much harsher & life-life than what most modern children's books have.

Recently I went to Switzerland, which makes this book all the more appealing..reminds me of those gorgeous mou...more

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