Gritli's Children

Spyri, Johanna, 1827-1901Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 317K words
Chapters: 32

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Gritli's Children by Johanna SpyriAuthor: Spyri, Johanna, 1827-1901,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Apr 29, 2005

Editor's review

Gritli's Children comes from Johanna Spyri, author of Heidi, and belongs to the same vein of children's and family fiction she excelled in. Centered on children, the story continues Spyri's warm, plain narrative style, attending to kindness, responsibility, and family affection in growing up, with scenes set largely in daily life and nature—fresh without being preachy. As a public-domain e-book, it preserves the original text and serves as a supplementary read for understanding the full range of Spyri's work: readers who love her touch in Heidi will find a similar reading experience here. Its value lies in presenting plain emotional education from a child's perspective, with a gentle pace, suitable for reading aloud with children or for young readers on their own. Note that this is the English original, and the Gutenberg edition has no illustrations or notes, so some English foundation is needed.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who love Heidi and want to explore more of Spyri's work
Parents looking for classic children's literature in English for their children
Readers interested in nineteenth-century European children's literature
Readers who want a gently paced, emotionally warm story

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer strong plots and fast-paced adventure
Readers with weak English who need notes
Young readers expecting an illustrated edition or a Chinese translation

Reading tips

When reading with a child, discuss the characters' choices and feelings after each chapter
Learn about Spyri's background first; it makes her educational views easier to appreciate in the text
Read alongside Heidi and observe the author's recurring methods in treating childhood themes
Young readers reading alone can keep a vocabulary notebook and accumulate expressions as they go

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

How is this book related to Heidi?

Both are by Johanna Spyri, both center on children and family life, and both share a warm, plain style, but the stories and characters are independent and do not form a sequel. Readers who love Heidi can treat it as related reading in the same author's style.

What age of child is it suitable for?

In content it belongs to children's literature, with plain plotting and emotional expression. The English original poses some barrier for non-native children; it is best for children with some English reading ability to read on their own, or for parents to read along and explain.

Does the e-book include illustrations?

Project Gutenberg public-domain e-books are usually text-based, and this edition generally contains no illustrations. For picture reading, look for an illustrated print edition.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Spyri, Johanna, 1827-1901 Author

Johanna Spyri (1827–1901) was a Swiss writer of children's literature, known for stories set in Alpine village life. Her best-known work, Heidi, follows an orphan girl who lives with her grandfather in the mountains and later accompanies a city girl, told in a warm tone that emphasizes nature's healing power and the inner world of children. The library holds 25 of her works, including the first and second parts of Heidi, Wo Gritlis Kinder hingekommen sind, and Heimatlos: Two stories for children, and for those who love children; they are commonly classified as inspirational coming-of-age stories. Public information is limited, so biographical details are omitted, yet her plain storytelling clearly conveys kindness, courage, and the strength to grow upward. Her works have long been loved by young readers and have influenced later children's literature about growing up in the natural world.