Heidi

Heidi
by Johanna Spyri

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About Book

Amazon.com
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 beautifully bound hardcover edition. Heidi has charmed and intrigued readers since it's original publication in 1880. Much more than a children's story, the narrative is also a lesson on the precarious nature of freedom, a luxury too often taken for granted. Heidi almost loses her liberty as she is ripped away from the tranquility of the mountains to tend to a sick cousin in the city. Happily, all's well that ends well, and the reader is left with only warm, fuzzy thoughts. Spryi's story will never grow wearisome--and this is a very appealing edition. --Naomi Gesinger

From Publishers Weekly
This truncated retelling of orphan Heidi's simple life in the Swiss Alps and her sojourn in the big city seems almost as indebted to the Shirley Temple film as to Johanna Spyri's 1880 novel. Krupinski's (A New England Scrapbook) heroine mimics Temple, curls, button nose and all, though she lacks the actress's expressive smile and gestures. Similarly blank-faced characters contrast with Krupinski's serene, lushly idealized landscape paintings: the people seem like wax dolls, but the glowing blankets of flowers make the Alps heaven on earth. The text emphasizes the sensual joys of fresh goat's milk, fir trees "with their piney scent," Heidi's sweet-smelling bed in her grandfather's hay loft, etc., but that is its only demonstrable strength. Both Heidi's relationship with her grandfather and the idealized subplot about wheelchair-bound Klara's learning to walk are woodenly described; little space is given to dialogue and even less to Heidi's emotions. The plot, too, is severely condensed: "Many more good things happened after that day." The book succeeds as a portrayal of the joys of mountain life, but otherwise fails to do justice to Spyri's story of a girl's courage and persistence. Ages 5-9.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 3. In telescoping Spyri's 300-page novel into a picture book, Krupinski puts Heidi in charge of telling her story. The efficient first-person narrative is well served by crisply detailed watercolor illustrations depicting Grandfather's house, the Swiss mountainside, and the people and goats who live there. The austere depictions of Heidi's detainment in the city in Klara's house contrast well with the lush mountain scenes. Pages are awash in accurately rendered alpine flowers. The children are winsome; Heidi resembles Shirley Temple. Youngsters who crave the full emotional story will no doubt need to be led to original versions, such as that illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith (Morrow, 1996), but Krupinski has created a fine introduction.?Susan Hepler, Alexandria City Public Schools, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 6^-9. With pretty illustrations of idyllic mountain scenes, Krupinski retells Spyri's classic story in picture-book form. The bright, collage-style illustrations in gouache and colored pencil are stiff and decorative, and the shortened version telescopes the 300-page novel into a few pages, so that much of the emotional impact is lost ("Soon after I arrived, I grew homesick" ). Why not let children wait a few years and enjoy Spyri's story, with or without the pictures? Hazel Rochman

Book Description

First published in 1880, Heidi introduces young readers and listeners to one of the most charming young heroines ever.

This beautiful, stirring novel tells of five-year-old Heidi, an orphan sent to live high up in the mountains with her cantankerous grandfather. Sweet-natured Heidi soon wins her grandfather's heart and makes friends with the lively young goatherd, Peter. Her newfound happiness ends quickly, however, when Heidi's aunt, Dete, takes her off to the city of Frankfurt to be a companion to a sickly child. Finally Heidi is restored to her Alpine home. And when her new friend, Clara, joins her in the mountains, Heidi's innocent charm and the majestic beauty of the Alps combine to work a healing miracle.

This edition of Heidi features ten gorgeous color plates and twenty-three black-and-white drawings by Jessie Willcox Smith. Smith's sumptuous pictures capture all the joy of this beloved classic, from the splendor of Switzerland's mighty Alps to the subdued drama of Clara's upper-class Frankfurt home to the exhilarating pleasure of an Alpine sleigh ride.

Now a whole new generation of young readers can fall under the enchanting spell that Heidi has cast for more than a century

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Download Description
Johanna Spyri's classic tale of a young girl sent to live with her grumpy grandfather in the Swiss Alps

Card catalog description
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.

From the Publisher
6 1-hour cassettes

Inside Flap Copy
The story of Heidi was written over one hundred years ago, however, it is far from a period piece. In the Swiss Alps, where it is set, a hundred years is just the blink of an eye. We see in her the daughter that every mother dreams of having and every little girl dreams of being. Her presence makes us happy, and so her story has endured. This deluxe Children?s Classic edition is produced with high-quality, leatherlike binding with gold stamping, full-color covers, colored endpapers with a book nameplate. Some of the other titles in this series include: Anne of Green Gables, Black Beauty, King Arthur and His Knights, Little Women, and The Secret Garden.

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.

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