Heidi: The Classic Children's Story of the Swiss Alps

Heidi is Johanna Spyri's classic story of childhood, kindness, mountain life, and the healing power of home. Sent to live with her reclusive grandfather in the Swiss Alps, young Heidi finds freedom among the high pastures, goats, and mountain air. Her warmth gradually changes the lives around her, from the lonely old man who has withdrawn from the village to Peter the goatherd and his blind grandmother. When Heidi is taken away to Frankfurt as a companion to the invalid Clara, the contrast between city life and the alpine world she loves becomes a central part of the novel's emotional force.

First published in the early 1880s, Heidi remains one of the enduring works of classic children's literature. Its appeal rests on more than nostalgia: Spyri's novel joins a memorable child heroine, a vivid Swiss setting, themes of friendship and restoration, and a deep feeling for the moral and physical life of the mountains. For readers of children's classics, family fiction, homeschool literature, nineteenth-century fiction, and traditional stories of courage, compassion, and belonging, Heidi continues to hold its place as one of the great European classics for young readers.