Heidi Grand'mère

Heidi sequel #4

by Charles Tritten, Jean Berthold (Illustrator)

In this sequel to the much-loved "Heidi" series by Johanna Spyri, join Heidi as a grandmother on their adventures in Dorlfi and the "Manor" house, written by Spyri's translator, Charles Tritten. After a beloved teacher falls ill, Heidi must save the day by introducing a new teacher to the school. In summer, join Heidi and her grandchildren in their stay at the "Manor" on the mountain, stirring up plenty of mischief and excitement for the growing family.

156 pages, Board book

First published January 1, 1941

Reviews

[Heidi Morrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naturally, when I discovered this fourth installment in the Heidi series, I couldn't wait to obtain my own copy and read it! Though this particular physical book copy, did come with its challenges. First of all, the font was very tiny. However, I was able to use a neck lamp to help me read it better. Because the margins and spacing were actually quite generous, I was able to read this book comfortably. As another reviewer pointed out, the illustrations in this book are very tiny, but what I was able to see I found charming. The story itself was in my opinion, very believable and had the same "feel" as the other books by Johanna Spyri. Although, I am not a grandma yet, I think the name, Heidi Grandma sounds really special. in the future, I most certainly would be just fine with any grandchildren the Lord happens to bless my children (after they're married of course) with! I definitely aspire to read the Heidi series to my future grandchildren to pass down the stories that I grew up with as soon as I was able to read! I definitely recommend this book!

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the story of Heidi as a child, it was one of my favourite stories, and I still love it now, even though I'm on the wrong side of adulthood. I recently stumbled across Heidi Grandma, along with a French version of Heidi Grand'mere, which I'm not sure is the same book or not (it appears to be, I just can't read French).

I miss the old editions of Heidi, with the lovely illustrations, even into Heidi Grows Up & Heidi's Children, even though my copies have been through the mill a bit now. The illustrations in this are minuscule to say the least, and don't even seem to match the story going on around them most of the time.

This is also a self published copy, so there are issues with formatting, silly typos (eatene instead of eaten, I mean really?), big gaps between words, and paragraphs incorrectly aligned.

I would say in all honesty, that this is more vignettes rather than a linear story. There's a 15 year jump gap at one point, so Grandma Heidi is surrounded by her grown up children and grandchildren. It seems quite odd, as I was interested in Heidi's daughter teaching at the school.

From loving Heidi and re-reading it every couple of years (certainly the first book anyway), I do think that the magic of the first book has not been recaptured in this. I am unsure as to whether it is the translation or Charles Tritten just hasn't been able to make this later book fit in with the earlier books - particularly since Heidi is a lot older than when we left her in Heidi's Children. I miss the fun mischievous Heidi, who was always playing with the goats, and I'm sure winding up Grandfather no end. While this has tried to be repeated with Heidi's grandchildren, it falls a bit flat in my personal opinion. The cover even tries to replicate old Heidi illustrations from the earlier books (what I presume is one of the granddaughters with black curly hair), but for the inside illustrations, you'll probably need a magnifying glass.

Although it's been a good many years since I read Heidi Grows Up and Heidi's Children (for some reason I never gravitate towards them, unlike the original), I would say stick with the earlier books, and give this one a miss. Although it's hard to give a Heidi book a low rating, I feel I have to in this case. Thankfully, it seems to be pretty cheap to purchase.