Sunday, October 18, 2020

Heidi by Johanna Spyri (audiobook)

 genre:  children's literature

When Heidi is only five, she is taken to a small Swiss Mountain town to live with her grandfather in his bachelor hut.  This delightfully affectionate and loving child makes friends with the dear blind Granny, with Peter, the goatherd, and with the goats themselves.  Her small adventures on the mountain endear her to her gruff grandfather and as she grows older, her circle of admirers grows as well as Heidi proves to be the kind of person that others love to be around.

This orphan story is a tender and familiar one to me as my mother adored the movie so I watched several different versions (mainly the Shirley Temple one but others as well) throughout my childhood.  I loved to see how closely the movies stuck to the book and even though I haven't seen a Heidi movie in truly probably 30 years, it was exactly what I'd remembered.  Heidi is spunky and so without guile, she's a great little character - her shuffling around at the whim's of others is a sad thing that she handles the best she can.  I particularly like how immediately and absolutely in love she falls with the mountains of her grandfather's home, such a contrast from the busy city.

While there were a few little things that bothered me only because they pulled my train of thought out of the narrative with questions, this story is a classic for a reason.  The setting, the characters, the feel-good nature of the overall story, the little-orphan-creating-a-family vibe, it's all just cozy and comforting.


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