by Johanna Spyri (Author)
When Heidi's parents die and she can no longer live with her aunt, she must stay with her ill-tempered grandfather who lives alone in the Swiss Alps. The townspeople worry that such a young girl has been left with a bad-tempered hermit. But Heidi thrives in the mountains and loves living with her grandfather. She is happiest playing with the mountain goats, picking wildflowers, and making friends. Then Heidi is taken away to serve as a companion to a lonely woman. Will she ever get back to the people and the mountains she loves so much?
Author Biography
Johanna Spyri was born Johanna Louise Heusser on June 12, 1827, in Hirzel, Switzerland. In 1852, she married Swiss lawyer Bernhard Spyri and moved to Zurich, where she began to write stories about life in the country. Spyri's first novel was published in 1871. Although she wrote more than fifty stories before passing away in 1901, Johanna Spyri is best known for Heidi, the story of an orphan who goes to live with her grandfather on the mountain.