​ ​is ​a children’s novel set in the Swiss . The novel begins when a little girl, Heidi, is brought by her aunt Dete to live with her ‘strange’ grandfather called ‘Alm Uncle.’ Heidi meets this grandfather for the first time when she is five years old. He is considered strange and rude because he and the villagers did not agree on a few issues. Alm Uncle lived all by himself in an alpine cottage up on a mountain (alm). The villagers pity the child who has to go live with him. Once Heidi arrives, however, she finds that her grandfather is not a bad man, just a lonely one. He is welcoming of her in a quiet manner. Soon she befriends the local shepherd boy, Peter, who takes care of the sheep on the mountain. Whenever he comes up to Uncle Alp’s to gather his sheep for the day, Heidi would follow him. As the plot unfolds, we see that Heidi and her grandfather become close with each other and the old man takes very good care of her. Three years later, her Aunt Dete comes again to take Heidi to Frankfurt to be a companion to a twelve year old girl who needs a playmate. This girl is named Clara Sesemann. The plot takes a different twist at this juncture in the story. Many things happen to both Clara and Heidi who become good friends. If you wish to know what happened and how the story ends, pick up the book and become friends with Heidi’s innocence and kindness, go for long hikes up the mountain with the goats and Peter, learn how to make cheese with Alm Uncle and acquaint yourself with all the other characters. Heidi was first written in German by . Then it was translated into English and other languages. ​Heidi was first a two part book called ​Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning,​ and ​Heidi: How She Used What She Learned.

This book is appropriate for all ages. ​Heidi's life on the mountain is so joyous, and vividly portrayed by Johanna Spyri that I continue to dream of such a life though I had read this book when I was very young. The black and white illustrations are full of life.

By the way, I also discovered that Johanna Spyri's heart-warming story was based on the real-life adventures of Heidi Schwaller who grew up near in the . Schwaller recalled how she met Spyri when the writer spent summers near the village of in eastern more than 80 years ago. I hope you will enjoy this 140 year old book as much as I did and so many readers do even today.