ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND PICTURE:
Author:
Johanna Spyri was born on 12 June, 1827. She was born in Hirzel, Switzerland. She was born to Meta Schweizer and Johan Jacob Heusser. Her mother was a poet and her father was a doctor. The only education she had was in her village school. She wrote poetry as a child. She lived with her extended family- grandmother, two aunties and two cousins as well as her mother, father, two brothers and three sisters. She married lawyer Bernhard Spyri in 1852 and they moved to Zurich. She then started writing novels. She started writing novels to help orphans and refugees of Franco-Prussian War. Her first novel, A Leaf on Vrony's Grave was published in 1871 anonymously. First part of Heidi was published in 1881 anonymously. It was so popular that she wrote the second part using her original name. Tragedy struck for Johanna in 1884 when both her husband and son passed away. After that, she started raising a niece and writing more books which were published but did not get as much acknowledgement as Heidi. Johanna Spyri died on July 7, 1901 in Berlin. She wrote around 40 stories for children in German which were later translated in English.
Cover picture:
In the picture, Heidi is shown wearing her cotton slip with flowers in her hand, and playing with two goats in a meadow. She is surrounded by mountains. The smile on her face shows that she is happy to be with her grandfather. Behind her you can see fir trees that really make her happy. We can see a small house in the distance with a path leading to it which can be assumed as where her " The Grandmother" lives. We can also see that the goats like to be with her. The village in the valleys looks like a small town and therefore is called The Little Village. The scenery in the picture is really very beautiful and in my opinion, Heidi looks very pretty and sweet.
CHARACTERS:
Heidi, the main character, is a small little girl who likes to be free and is very respectful. She loves her grandfather very much. She also loves the Alps and the meadows. She is very friendly and wins the affection of her grandfather quickly. She befriends Peter and his grandmother before she is taken back to Frankfurt.
Alm-Uncle, also the grandfather of Heidi, is very unfriendly and very caring. He learns to care for his granddaughter and gets very upset when she leaves him. He gives Heidi all the essentials but does not allow her to go to school.
Dete, the maternal aunt of Heidi, is a very busy and stubborn lady. She leaves Heidi with her grandfather and also takes her away later.
Peter, a goatherd, is very friendly and gets along easily with Heidi. He and Heidi become best friends soon.
Peter's grandmother, who is known by Heidi as "The Grandmother", is a blind but kind lady. She likes her very much. She really wants Heidi or Peter to read The Book Of Hymns to her.
Klara, Heidi's friend and study mate in Frankfurt, is a very fun and sweet girl, who likes Heidi very much. She likes the stories that Heidi tells her and calms Heidi down when she starts to cry.
Herr Sesemann, the father of Klara, is a very nice man and doesn't like anyone to suffer in his house. He wants his daughter to be happy always. He often goes away on work trips.
Fraulein Rottenmeier, the mother of Klara, is a very strict woman who does not like rules to be disobeyed. She is very strict to particularly to Heidi. However, Heidi is very respectful to her.
SETTING OF THE PLACE:
There are only two settings in the whole story. One of them is the mountains and the other is a city in Frankfurt.
The mountains and the meadows are the place where the Uncle lives. He and Heidi love them very much as they look so peaceful and beautiful. Heidi loves the sound of the wind blowing in the fir trees behind their hut. At the base of the mountains, you can almost smell the fresh grass and the fragrant flowers blooming farther up the mountain. It is very hot in summer and very cold during the winter. After one hour of climbing up the mountains, you will reach the Little Village, true to its name. In the valley and the meadows, there are tiny bunches of pink blossoms growing by the rocks. The hills far away are covered with dots of blue and specks of yellow. In the evening, while the sun sets, the snow high up on the hills turns rosy red. In the evenings, the valleys below are covered in mist.
When Heidi's aunt takes her away, the place she goes to is Frankfurt. Herr Sesemann's house is in a small town in Frankfurt and is very big. When Heidi first arrives, she stares in awe at the big house. The house has many rooms and Heidi has her own room. The place is so elegant that Heidi feels as if she doesn't belong there at all. All around the house, there are stony streets and walls which Heidi doesn't like.
SUMMARY:
Heidi is a small little girl and is an orphan. Her aunt takes her up the mountains to live with her grandfather and she loves to be there. She soon wins her grandfather's affection and love. She loves to wander freely about the mountains with Peter, the goatherd, and the goats.
During the winter months, Peter has to go to school and Heidi stays at home with her grandfather. One day, Peter invites her home to meet his grandmother. Heidi goes to Peter's house and learns that "The Grandmother" wants Peter to read The Book of Hymns to her as she is blind. Heidi spends her days playing with her grandfather and visiting Peter's house.
One day, Dete, Heidi's aunt, tells the Alm-Uncle that she is taking Heidi to Frankfurt to a new house. The Alm-Uncle gets upset and tells Dete that she and Heidi should not come to his house again. Dete tricks Heidi saying she will come back tomorrow and persuades her into leaving.
Heidi goes to Herr Sesemann's house and assists Klara, Herr Sesemann's daughter, to study but she herself does not learn to read. Heidi keeps thinking that she will go home but she never does.
One day, when Herr Sesemann comes home, he brings Heidi a book with many bright pictures. One picture catches Heidi's eyes as it is a picture of the meadows and mountains. She is inspired by this to learn to read and soon she masters it.
A few weeks after Herr Sesemann leaves, some strange things happen in the house. First, Fraulein Rottenmeier thinks it is a thief but soon finds out it isn't because there was nothing missing. One night, one of the servants decides he has to get to the bottom of it. He sees a pale white figure and gets really scared. He tells Fraulein Rottenmeier that a ghost is there in the house. Klara also comes to know of it and says that she needs Herr Sesemann in the house.
Herr Sesemann comes back and decides to call his old friend, the doctor, to his house to search for the ghost. They too see the white figure and later find that it's Heidi!
The doctor brings Heidi back to her room and asks her how she got down. She says that she doesn't know and also says she dreams that she is with her grandfather every night and when she wakes up she is down there.
Heidi goes to sleep and the doctor goes to talk with Herr Sesemann. He tells him that Heidi had been sleepwalking and she really needed to go home for her health. Herr Sesemann was really upset because a child had been wasting time at his house and nobody had noticed it.
He decides to send Heidi home with Sebastian, the servant, that day itself. She goes to the mountains and first goes to meet "The Grandmother" and reads some of the hymns in her book. Next she goes to her grandfather and hugs him. The Alm-Uncle goes to check on her ten times in the night. Her grandfather had read in the letter Herr Sesemann had sent him that she was sleepwalking and didn't want her to hurt herself. But she was sleeping peacefully. Her wandering was finally over. She was at home.
REVIEW:
In my opinion, Heidi was really fun and interesting to read. I did not want to put the book down after I started reading it. I will recommend it to all my friends. The vocabulary that the author used was very simple and would be easy even for six to eight year olds to read. The author had originally written it in German and someone else has translated it to English. Heidi's feelings are beautifully expressed and we can relate to them. The author has also described the Alps as a very beautiful place and we can picture it. The book has very bold font throughout so that it is very easy to read and understand the words. The plot is very nicely described and we can get a clear picture in our minds of whatever Heidi does. I think that the plot was a really imaginative one but it could happen in real life. The plot was one of my favourites and I will remember it as it had so many great moments. There weren't many humourous moments but at the same time it was very jovial. My favourite characters were Heidi and Klara. Heidi was really sweet and respectful to everyone. She is very smart for an eight-year old and loves her grandfather and "The Grandmother" dearly. Klara is a twelve year old girl who can't leave her wheelchair and she is very kind to Heidi. She likes Heidi as if she is her own sister. Klara always keeps up her promises and likes kittens very much.
