Study notes: Heidi
Heidi is sent to live with her grandfather on a Swiss mountain. She likes the goats, the air, and Peter the goatherd. Later she is taken to a city house as a companion for Clara, who uses a wheelchair. Heidi grows homesick enough to become ill. The mountain is not magic, but it is the place she can breathe. Spyri’s book is a nineteenth-century children’s novel about health, friendship, and a child who should have been asked where she wanted to live.
Themes
Home is a specific place, not a vague feeling. Friendship across different bodies. Adults can be wrong and still change.
People to follow
Heidi, Grandfather, Peter, Clara, and Clara’s grandmother.
Talk about
- What does Heidi need that the city house does not give?
- How does Clara’s visit change the mountain household?
- Which adult finally listens?
Public-domain text.