Book Review: Heidi Teaches Strength & Kindness

When I was twelve years old my Grandmother gave me a book by Joanna Spyri

On 4 November 1975 when I was twelve years old, my Grandmother (Omi) gave me a small Dean’s Classics book. It was “Heidi” by Joanna Spyri.

This story of a little orphaned Swiss girl torn between the whims and wishes of the adults in her life and expressing pure kindness and courage has made a powerful impact upon many people around the world.

My copy with 214 pages is as crisp and clean as it was when I got it 44 years ago. Fortunately, this is one of the very few books that survived my adoptive mother blitzing all of my childhood books and sending all but a handful of to op shops and who knows where.

If she had asked me to keep one book, it would have been “Heidi” (though I can’t remember how this book survived). It reminds me of my father’s mother, Omi, whom I loved, but only saw a couple of times. She lived in England and when she came out to Australia to visit, she was pretty old then.

“Heidi” with 23 chapters is easy to read and is captivating for children around ten years old upward and adults alike. Goats, goatherds, the beautiful Alps, and a spoilt girl waited upon by servants and a Governess, appear in this wonderful story.

The best part that I found unforgettable is Heidi’s natural kindness. Who could forget her giving Peter half of her food and smuggling soft rolls for Peter’s grandmother?

This little girl’s ability to love anyone and to relate to the natural processes of life cheerfully and as a willing helper, and her boldness and resolve of character, is a boost to any reader.

Heidi was written in 1881 in two parts. The first edition, published anonymously by F.A. Perthes in Gotha, Germany in two volumes, had a decorative cover but no illustrations within the books. Subsequent editions added multiple illustrations.

Louise Windsor Brooks was Heidi’s first English translator, and retained the title Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Yearning, for both volumes, published by De Wolfe, Fiske in Boston in 1884. A two volume set entitled Heidi’s Early Experiences and Heidi’s Further Experiences was published in London is 1884, but is ‘virtually unattainable.’

The first complete American Edition of the one volume Heidi was published in 1885 by Cupples, Upham, & Company, in Boston. The original book is in gold cloth with the publishers catalogue at the end. Source: Biblio

There are a huge number of different editions of “Heidi” and Shirley Temple played Heidi in a black and white 1937 American musical drama, that was loosely based upon Spyri’s story.

An original gold-cloth 2 volume American book sold at Sothebys in 2014 for USD $2,250; but my edition is just as valuable to me! “Heidi” is a delightful classic that warms the heart and teaches strength and kindness to anyone.

There are deeper underlying themes or issues too, as the story focuses on people’s choices of attitudes and treatment of others, and looks at the divide between people who are better of and those who are poorer.

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