It's unfortunate that the reviews of all the different adaptations, abridgements, and translations of Heidi are grouped together because they seem to be very, very different books. My review is for the Great Illustrated Classics edition adapted by Deidre S. Laiken. It features a full page pen and ink drawing on every other page and a beautiful cover with Heidi in an upland meadow surrounded by flowers and goats and snowy peaks in the background. It's a bit surprising that Heidi has long blond hair on the cover and short dark hair inside.
I never read Heidi as a child because the young girl's homesickness after being removed from the place she loved was a subject I found too painful to read about, and I had never come back to it as an adult. But this shortened version with the spectacular cover got my attention. In most abridged books, the descriptions and the atmosphere are the first to go, and that's true here. You don't have the sense of being in the alpine meadows, which I judge from other reviews is one of the strong points of the original book. Heidi's longing to be back in the mountains with her grandfather is mentioned--we know she cried herself to sleep every night--but the author doesn't dwell on it. Even though it's an important part of the story, I have to say I'm glad she didn't. Other reviewers have indicated that religion plays an important part in the original text, but it doesn't here. People go to church and the pastor is a minor character, but religious themes are absent, and that would seem to be a loss. The book is short--236 pages, half of which are pictures--and the story is told simply for young readers. Those who want more can always go back to a longer version, as I may do at some point. But this is at least a good introduction. As an older adult, I found it enjoyable and I'm glad I read it.
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