Heidi by Johanna Spyri

The first thing you notice about this edition of Heidi is the colour covers and inside covers. The front contains many features of the story of the book. There is the happy girl in the middle, the goats around her, the isolated hut near the top of the mountain and the flowers at the bottom. Inside the back cover there are pictures of 12 of the covers of books in the Oxford Children's Classics, including classics such as The Jungle Book and The Wizard of Oz. This is the sort of thing my almost-9-year-old daughter, being a veracious reader and recognising some of these famous books, loves.

As for the story this is the original English text of the book (as far as I know) which was published in 1881. Therefore it has old-fashioned sentence structures, which coupled with the long words and Swiss place names does not make it an easy task for my almost-9-year-old to read. There are no illustrations along the way either. On her own I think she would have persevered for a while before giving up. Therefore I read it with her over several bedtimes.

The story tells the tale of young orphan Heidi. Throughout the book she has such a cheerful nature, a "loving little heart", and brings joy to everyone she meets, whether that be blind Grandmother or Peter the goatherd. 

You meet her at the beginning as a 5-year-old being dumped by her aunt at Grandfather's as there is no-one else she can leave him with as she leaves for Frankfurt where she is to become a housekeeper. Here Heidi lives at the top of the mountain at one with the mountain meadows, nature, flowers, goats and fresh air. This is one of the things the book is famous for, the descriptions of the beautiful scenery - "lofty and silent rose the high mountain peaks above her, and below the whole broad valley full of quiet peace." 

Anyway aunt Dete eventually sends for Heidi to come to Frankfurt too where she is to be the companion of an invalid child called Clara. They make friends whilst Heidi also gets up the nose of the housekeeper there Fraulein Rottenmeier, innocently but hilariously at times. Unfortunately Heidi becomes homesick so the pair are split apart, until later when Clara comes to visit and the mountain air does her much good.

There is also a Godly message within the text too, with lessons about prayers and such like. 

My nearly-9-year-old daughter likes to have the last word. She says: "It is really good because you learn a few lessons about friendship and being truthful."

This edition published: 3 Sep 2015

Available on AMAZON

Knight Crusader by Ronald Welch

“Knight Crusader” was originally published in 1954 but has been re-published due to popular demand. It is aimed at 14+ year-olds and this is because of the bloodthirstiness of it, although the book is by no means gory, and nothing that the modern child has not seen already in a video game (the original Assassin’s Creed game being set at the same time as this novel) or movie.

The book takes place at the time of the Third Crusade and features figures such as Richard the Lionheart. It follows Philip d’Aubigny on his journey from “excitable, impulsive, scatter-brained young squire” through to becoming “one of the greatest barons in Outremer,” and finally his coming to Great Britain after longing to after hearing great things of the “green country” where "the trees are everywhere, heavy with leaf, and the valleys are deep and moist."

Outremer is the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem and the Christians and the Turks are fighting for it. It is where Philip is from, being the son of a great knight Sir Hugo. Philip as a 17-year-old becomes a knight himself after proving himself in a duel. Then he is straight into proper battle as “Outremer was in deadly peril; at any moment invasion and total destruction might descend upon the Christian states.”

That battle he partakes in is the battle of Hattin and it is interesting to read the tactics involved and see how they played out during battle, plus the point when the realisation dawns on the Christians that they will lose. 

Being on the losing side Philip is taken as a slave and that ends part 1 of the book. Part 2 has his escape from Damascus and his allegiance to King Richard of England as he takes part in the successful battle of Arsuf. And Part 3 sees his coming to England to inherit the fief of Llanstephan, although he must first oust the current occupant De Braose who will not give it up without a fight.

All-all-all then a book that is interesting for its military tactics, and its historical content as it is based on real life events of the time, the author being well-versed through his career as a history teacher.  

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed for sale HERE.)

Run Baby Run by Nicky Cruz

This book is the autobiographical account of Nicky Cruz. Originally hailing from Puerto Rico he was sent to New York as a teenager. There he had no-one so he turned to the gangs. It wasn't long until he was elevated to gang leader thanks to his fearless ways. But later came a man with three words for him that did scare him: 

`Jesus loves you!' Three small words that change Nicky Cruz's life for ever! 

However the change was not easy, there were struggles along the way and friends were lost as Nicky made the transition from gang leader into ministry! 

This book can make you cry when you read about how faith in Jesus Christ has impacted on people's lives where they are seemingly too far gone down the darkside to be saved. 

Read it and weep. 

(This book is available to buy here.)