Heidi
Delightful
Profound
Pure

Heidi

Johanna Spyri2017
On the title page of her story "Heidi" the Swiss writer Johanna Spyri stressed that the story is written "for children and those who love children." A small orphan Heidi and her stern grandfather live in the Swiss Alps. Different in character and life views, they are, nevertheless, extremely attached to each other and get on well. An open-hearted and kind girl is always ready to come and help others and people treat her the same...
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Reviews

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🐿️@ordinarose
5 stars
Feb 8, 2025

i think this is the first long novel i've ever read when i was a child. honestly, i've forgotten most of its content, but the feeling of reading it the first time still remains after years. was it peter the one who couldn't read and didn't go to school? did i just feel so engaged with hedi's friendship with him? perhaps so. i also remember a little the goat cheese and the pine trees. i was just a child living in a secluded village, and heidi brought a feeling of wonder to it. heidi enabled me to understand that children have thoughts, too. it made me able to navigate my world through a whole new window. when i saw pine trees for the first time passing through a road called cadas pangeran, it became more special as heidi made them so. years later when i moved to the city, i found my heidi again with its folded and rusty cover. the sleepwalking and the longing to go home felt more real than ever. ah... i couldn't help but write a review that is perhaps too much about me, but this book is just very dear to me! i lost my heidi, the one with cartoonized cover. a girl with a straw hat on her head and freckles on her cheeks, sitting on lush grasses with the alps behind. i think i once wished my name was heidi, hahaha.

+4
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𝚕𝚒𝚕𝚢@avonleawritings
5 stars
Jul 16, 2024

5 ★ - (adored, absolute favorite) CWs or things that caught my attention: Mentions/descriptions of deceased parents, illness, sleepwalking,

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Malia@freakishmediocre
3.5 stars
Jul 15, 2024

did not remember the heavy religious themes but fun times

+1
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Ayesha ahmed@ayeshaa
4 stars
Jun 20, 2023

I have never read the book when I was a child or watched the movie. It's my first time to give a children's classic a try since I was a child, and it was absolutely entertaining! It made me feel very nostalgic although I haven't ever come across this story. Heidi, an orphan, who lives with her grandfather in the mountains is taken away to live in the city with a wealthy family to keep their child entertained. Her inexperience was what made this part somewhat funny, cute and sad all at the same time. Soon enough, Heidi returns back to her home, the mountains. This book could be read more than once as it is very cheering and hopeful. It should be read to children more for them to learn simplicity, kindness and faith.

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Senali Senanayake @senaliii
5 stars
Jun 18, 2022

Heidi by Johanna Spyri. 🌱📖️🌨️ This is my first read in December. 🎄No wonder that most of you have read Heidi as kids, feeling the cold breezes of the Swiss mountains.🌨️ So this was my second reading of Heidi. One as a little girl. And this time as a 19 year old young lady. 😂😌 First of all it is the lively backdrop of the story which always steals my heart into it. 🏔🌲🐐The narrator never misses  a chance to make her readers live in the plot as if they are close people to our little center focus ; Heidi. Why I envy Heidi. 😐 🐥Her mind is free and fiest and unaware of the evil around her. 🐥She's got a cool grandpa. 😎 (Mine is cool too) 🐥Her home is my idol place of living. 🐥How she becomes happy with the tiniest thing she has. Peter the goat boy. 👦 I want to talk about Peter cuz in most of my favorite books , there's a character named Peter to whom my attention  is spontaneously magnetized to.😂 Have you got any specific name which immediately catches your eye of a reader ? 😂🥲 This time I felt the deeper themes scrutinized by the writer which I did not find as a child. The little girl's empathetic, humanely attitudes towards the world which substantially attacks the immatured behaviors of adults throughout the plot is my most prefered theme of the novel.❤️🤭🌨️

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cedar winslow@cwinslow
2.5 stars
May 27, 2022

meh. this book was recommended because of my deep love of anne of green gables but it fell flat. quite enjoyable in a small dose but when i hit the midpoint of the book i had to drag myself through it

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Barbara Williford@barbarawilliford
5 stars
May 7, 2022

Heidi is an orphaned child of a tender age who is forced upon what society views as a grumpy, dangerous grandfather. With Heidi’s tender heart and free spirit she soon has everyone on the Swiss mountain, including her grandfather, falling in love with her and changing their lives. Suddenly, she is yanked from this home and the people she loves and sent away to a stranger’s home in Frankfurt. This change and journey will continue to change so many lives for the good and the bad but God has his own plans and journey for everyone involved. A wonderful, heart felt book.

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Flavia Louise@flaviaaalouise
4 stars
Mar 7, 2022

3.5 stars Such a nicely told story. I listened to this and I was just genuinely enjoying it all the way through.

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Samiha Tasnim@samihatasnim
4 stars
Jan 17, 2022

A childhood favourite...I loved reading it again.

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Hannah@han_readsbooks
4 stars
Dec 7, 2021

I did not expect to love this book, if I'm being honest it was a complete cover buy, I just want the complete set of puffin in bloom editions and had no intention of actually reading any of the books except maybe Little Women. But then realised the ridiculousness of this and decided to pick up Heidi. I am so glad I did! Yes it's preachy but more than that it's a story about a little girl who just loves to be outside and with her grandad and the people she loves. Heidi is the least selfish little girl, thinking always of how she can help others even when it's hurting her. The characters are all pretty likeable, only Rottenmeier can really be thought of as a bad egg. The setting was wonderful and I could see in my mind so well the story as it played out. I was genuinely concerned for Heidi and many of her elderly companions throughout parts in this book but it true children's classic style, the happy ending is there and all the sweeter for the journey. A truly heartwarming tale and one I wish I had read as a young girl.

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Alexis @alexisdanielle
3 stars
Nov 16, 2021

3/5 stars This was an interesting read. It was alright, I did enjoy it.

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Diana @perdiana
4 stars
Nov 8, 2021

Romanzo indimenticabile per la leggerezza delle descrizioni. È moralistico, vi sono elementi giudaico-cristiani riscontrabili qui come in altri romanzi ''classici'' della adolescenza, Pollyanna ad esempio. Ciò non deve stupire: è stato scritto da una mano occidentale sul finire del XIX secolo per un pubblico giovanile, per l'educazione di questi e con l'obiettivo di suggerire utili riflessioni ai pedagoghi. Incipit, Al piede d'una fila di monti dalle cime frastagliate che guardano minacciose giù verso la valle dell'Alto Reno, c'è un paese come in Svizzera ce ne sono tanti: con la chiesa dal campanile a punta e la scuola, il mulino, il fabbro e il calzolaio. Il rapporto uomo-ambiente, la vita di montagna e la relezione di amicizia tra coetanei sono gli aspetti più rilevanti del romanzo.

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Mireia @neftis
3 stars
Oct 15, 2021

La cosa que me pasa con esta historia es que desde pequeña vi la serie de dibujos animados y si no recuerdo mal había una película, y nunca me llego a emocionar per se. Pero al leer el libro me ha transmitido mucha ternura y lo he disfrutado más de lo que pensaba, así que eso que me llevo.

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Jane Krauss@ladyjane95
3 stars
Aug 28, 2021

I remember my mum reading this to me as a child, and it holds such a nostalgic place in my heart. It's a story of its time. Leaving a child with a hermit on a mountain would never fly in 2021, and neither would allow a male doctor to be alone with a venerable young girl. I know that the writing is innocent, but in the context of 2021, it seems a little off. Furthermore, the writing style is quite old and uses words like to-morrow. All in all, I enjoyed the book for nostalgic reasons, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. It's suitable for chapter by chapter reading to children, but I wouldn't reread it as an adult.

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Manon van Heumen@womanon
5 stars
Aug 27, 2021

This was just wonderful! The vivid descriptions, the joyous Heidi: I could have stayed in this book forever!

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Lisa Beasley@carefulofbooks
4 stars
Aug 18, 2021

I do still enjoy this story but perhaps some of the shine has worn away since I was a kid. Will always like reading it but perhaps i wont get back the love I had for it when I was younger.

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Kate@girlreading
4 stars
Aug 12, 2021

A gentle, heartwarming children's story that made me want to move to the Swiss Alps, sleep in a bed of hay and live at one with the goats. I found the first half of this book much more enjoyable than the last, as I felt it became somewhat preachy and suddenly heavy on religious sentiments (which just isn't my thing) but other than that, I felt very nostalgic for the animated movie I grew up with (and have now purchased for £0.49 on Amazon.) I would also highly recommend Puffin's 2019 audiobook, which was beautifully narrated by Gemma Whelan.

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Paige Wanner@turntopaige22
3.5 stars
Dec 21, 2024
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Ben Cardy@benbacardi
3 stars
Sep 17, 2024
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karissa🌙@kitten
2.5 stars
Mar 22, 2024
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Annabel Neerings@anniedragon
3.5 stars
Jan 21, 2024
+2
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caro@joecool
5 stars
Jan 7, 2024
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Nayely Cortes@nayelacortes
3 stars
Jun 16, 2022
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Emma Dumitru @emmilica
5 stars
Apr 20, 2022

Highlights

Photo of cedar winslow
cedar winslow@cwinslow

“causeless lamentation”

Page 146

me all the time

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cedar winslow@cwinslow

‘Why does the great bird go on croaking and screaming down at us, grandfather?’ ‘He is mocking at the people who live down below in the villages, because they all go huddling and gossiping together, and encourage one another in evil talking and deeds. He calls out, "If you would separate and each go your own way and come up here and live on a height as I do, it would be better for you!"’

Page 50
Photo of cedar winslow
cedar winslow@cwinslow

Heidi had never felt so happy in her life before. She drank in the golden sunlight, the fresh air, the sweet smell of the flowers, and wished for nothing better than to remain there for ever”

Page 40

how i feel outside