Heidi was written in 1880, and is still one of the most beloved of children's books. She is five years old when we meet her in the pages of this book. She is an orphan, and her aunt, who has been caring for her, is taking her to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. Grandfather, or Alm-Uncle, has a reputation as a hostile man. He lives in a hut, isolated high on a mountain away from people. However, Heidi is an irrepressibly joyous child, who loves grandfather, the mountain, the goats, and Peter, the young boy who tends the goats. When she meets Peter's mother and grandmother, she loves them too, and everyone comes to love Heidi, especially Alm-Uncle.
Then one day Heidi's aunt returns to take her off to Frankfurt to be the companion of an invalid girl, Clara. Heidi gets into many scraps, because she has no frame of reference for living in a large, rich household, or in a city. She loves Clara, Clara's father and grandmother, but is so homesick that she becomes ill. The doctor tells the family that she must go home. Heidi returns to the mountain, and the relationships she established lead to a happy ending for everyone involved.
222 pages
Copyright 1880
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