PENGUIN Ladybird Classics: Heidi

This is one of a series of classic works, which have been abridged by Ladybird books. Although I am not really a fan of abridged books, my six year old was keen to try some novels which I felt were simply too difficult for her to read in their complete, unabridged form. She prefers to read herself and is rarely keen on being read to, so I thought this would be a nice introduction to some classic stories.The book itself is very well designed - slightly larger than the usual Ladybird book size, with good paper quality and a integrated bookmark. It has short chapters and lots of illustrations, both colour and black and white. The story has obviously been condensed a lot, but the basic storyline is well told and she enjoyed it. There are a lot of quite dark themes in Heidi - at various parts in the story she is homesick, lonely and sad. Although the book is shorter, it does deal with those themes and certainly remains true to the storyline. I thought this was very well written and would certainly buy more from the series - great for readers moving onto to chapter books who want to try something a little more challenging.

Nicely presented but stories are over abridged losing much of the beauty & meaning of the story. Think there's a danger that the abridged version will discourage children fro m reading the full story

As described

Lovely book, excellent quality, thank you.

Great version of a classic. Good quality hardback. Short story.