Children · Drama
Heidi
An orphan girl is sent to live with her grumpy grandfather on a mountain in the Swiss Alps.
Five levels, about 80 languages
- A2ElementaryShort sentences and everyday words.
- B1IntermediateYou follow clear stories about familiar things.
- B2Upper intermediateLonger sentences, richer vocabulary.
- C1AdvancedClose to the original, lightly condensed.
- C2ProficientThe complete novel.
One purchase is one book, in one language, at one level: $4.99. Another level of a book you own is $1.99. Editions nobody has asked for yet are written on request: chapter 1 in a few minutes, the rest while you read. How the levels work.
About the book
Up the mountain
Heidi is five when her aunt Dete, who has found a job in Frankfurt, takes her up the mountain above the village of Dörfli and leaves her with her grandfather. The Alm-Uncle, as the villagers call him, lives alone in a hut and has a fearsome reputation. Heidi is not afraid. She loves the hut, the hayloft where she sleeps, the goats, the cheese toasted over the fire, and Peter the goatherd, who takes her up to the high pastures. Then Dete comes back with a plan to take her to Frankfurt as a companion for a rich girl who can’t walk. Johanna Spyri published the story in German in 1880 and 1881.
Why it works for learners
Heidi is a story of everyday things, and it gives you the vocabulary of everyday life: bread, milk, cheese, bed, window, goat, snow, sun, flowers, the seasons. The feelings are clear and strong: joy, homesickness, kindness, friendship. Heidi herself is curious and talkative, and her conversations with her grandfather and with Clara are easy to follow.
One quiet thread will appeal to learners. Heidi is convinced that reading is too hard for her, because Peter has told her so, until Clara’s patient grandmother shows her otherwise.
Which level to start at
A2 is ideal, and the story keeps its warmth in short sentences. B1 adds more of the mountain scenes and the Frankfurt household. Learners of German can read a Swiss classic in German, at whatever level suits them, with every word a tap away and the whole book narrated.
Read next
- The Swiss Family Robinson, another Swiss classic about building a home
- The Secret Garden, a lonely child brought to life by the outdoors
- A Little Princess, a girl far from home, holding on to her kindness