Heidi, by Johanna Spyri, is one of my favourite books. It is heartwarming to read about Heidi’s sweet personality and how she brightens the lives of her grandfather, Clara, and so many others. I can easily imagine Heidi’s adventures in my mind, and find Heidi a very memorable story. ( )

A Swiss orphan is heartbroken when she must leave her beloved grandfather and their happy home in the mountains to go to school and to care for an invalid girl in the city.

recommended for: girls of all ages

I reread this story frequently as a girl. One of the most evocative and effectively descriptive books I’ve ever read. A wonderful story about a young girl who goes to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. Loved the side story that takes place in town away from her grandfather as well. I always craved cheese and bread as I read the story, and there was nothing more satisfying than curling up with Heidi and some cheese & bread. When young, I didn’t understand that the goat cheese described in the book was different from the cow’s milk cheese I ate. (Now that I’m a long term vegan, I would no longer crave any animal procured cheese, but I think I’d still enjoy the story.) A worthy children’s classic.

The sequels: Heidi Grows Up and Heidi’s Children were written by a different author – the original author’s translator. I enjoyed them, but they were not as pleasurable to read as Heidi. ( )

Johanna Spyri-Heuser (1827-1901) est née en Suisse. Le premier volume de Heidi paraît en Allemagne en 1880, suivi d'un second en 1881, Heidi grandit. Ce fut immédiatement un immense succès à tel point que ses livres furent traduits en des dizaines de langues et qu'ils furent adaptés pour le cinéma, la télévision et même l'opéra.

Heidi, la petite orpheline, est placée chez un oncle qui a depuis longtemps fui la compagnie des hommes pour vivre dans l'alpage. Contre toute attente, ces deux esseulés vont s'entendre à merveille et la montagne va offrir à Heidi une vie heureuse et libre.

Call it a desire to revisit an old friend, but when I came across this copy of Heidi by Johanna Spyri I simply had to purchase it.

You see, Heidi was the first full-length novel I ever read as a youth. Heidi was a little girl, of my own age, at the time I read it, and I was enamored with her adventures on the Alm with her grandfather, The Alm-Uncle.

In Heidi we find a child who has been dealt a hard life, but who with the grace of God, learns to make something good out of even the worst situation. She touches each individual who comes into her life, blessing and enriching their lives as no other could.

In this edition of Heidi, we are given a brief biography of the author at the end of the book.

Born 1827 at Hirzel, Switzerland the author was named Johanna after her father, Dr. Johann Jacob Heusser, and was nicknamed Hanni. Her mother was a poet.

Well versed in education, and well-travelled, she eventually married a schoolmate of her brother's, Bernhard Spyri, in 1852 when she was 25.

Hanni, it is said, wrote the very first of her stories to entertain the wounded soldiers of the War of 1870. Heidi was the very first of her longer stories, and was first published in 1880. Outliving both her husband, and only son, Hanni spent a great deal of time with a little niece, it is said she wrote many of her stories to please the child.

Hanni died in 1901 at the age of 74. ( )