Name: The Swiss Family Robinson
Rating: 3.581632653061225 (49 reviews)
ISBN: 9780141325309

J. D. Wyss

Shipwrecked on a tropical island, a Swiss minister, his wife, and their four sons struggle to survive until they can be rescued.

The Swiss Family Robinson

Johann David Wyss

The Swiss Family Robinson (Penguin Classics)

Celeste Richardson

While I read an illustrated, abridged version of this book countless times over the course of my childhood, this was my first time reading the unabridged story. If Robinson Crusoe is the father of the survival story, The Swiss Family Robinson is its mother. It’s completely unrealistic, as the father knows way more about the environment as is plausible, and the family shipwrecked in a veritable Eden. The land produces bounties of food and other supplies at a truly prolific rate, and the family always knows exactly what to do with their discoveries. And they’re all crack shots. And super industrious. Also, the writing is both stilted and preachy, and conveys the axiom “God helps those who help themselves” to be something that is physically proven at every turn. However, it’s an engaging, engrossing story, and I can understand why it captivated the imaginations of generations of young readers.

When a Swiss couple and their four sons are shipwrecked on an isolated island, they adapt to their "New Switzerland" using many imaginative methods of farming and animal taming.

Julie Strietelmeier

An abridged version of the story that relates the fortunes of a shipwrecked family as they imaginatively adapt to life on an island with abundant animal and plant life.

The Swiss Family Robinson

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