Heidi

It is fair to say that 'Heidi' is a phenomenon. The novel about a five-year-old girl living with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps has been on the high school reading list of millions of children. More than 50 million copies of the book have been shifted since it was published. Author Johanna Spyri rightly calls it "a book for children and those who love children". 'Heidi' finds herself orphaned and living with her bad-tempered grandfather, who has fallen out with his neighbours and also refuses to send Heidi to school. Her kindness gradually melts her granddad's heart, but she is then taken away to be a companion for a wheelchair-bound girl named Klara, whose home features the monstrous bully of a housekeeper, Fraulein Rottenmeier. The strictness crushes Heidi's spirit and she longs to return to her grandfather. Will this beautiful story of redemption and friendship have a happy ending? If you like 'Anne of Green Gables' by Lucy Maud Montgomery, you will love 'Heidi'.