Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning (German: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre), usually abbreviated Heidi, is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care, in the Swiss Alps. It was written as a children's book in 1880 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri. Two sequels, Heidi Grows Up and Heidi's Children, were not written by Spyri but by her English translator, Charles Tritten.

The Heidi books are among the best known works of Swiss literature.

Plot summary

Dete returns 3 years later to bring Heidi to Frankfurt as a companion of a 12-year-old invalid girl named Clara Sesemann. Heidi spends a year with Clara, clashing repeatedly with the Sesemanns' strict housekeeper Miss Rottenmeier and becoming more and more homesick. Her one diversion is learning to read and write, motivated by her desire to go home and read to Peter's blind grandmother. Heidi's increasingly failing health and several instances of sleepwalking (it is implied that she has inherited a propensity to epilepsy from her mother) prompt Clara's doctor to send her home to her grandfather. Her return prompts the grandfather to descend to the village for the first time in years, marking an end to his seclusion.

Heidi and Clara continue to write to each other. A visit by the doctor to Heidi and her grandfather convinces him to recommend that Clara journey to visit Heidi. Meanwhile, Heidi teaches Peter to read and write. Clara makes the journey the next season and spends a wonderful summer with Heidi. Clara becomes stronger on goat's milk and fresh mountain air, but Peter is jealous of Clara and pushes her wheelchair down the mountain to its destruction. Without her wheelchair, Clara attempts to walk and is gradually successful. Clara's Grandmother and Father are amazed and overcome with joy to see Clara walking. Clara's wealthy family promises to provide a shelter for Heidi, in case her grandfather will no longer be able to do so.

Film, TV, or theatrical adaptations

About 20 film or television productions of the original story have been made, including the very popular anime series Heidi, Girl of the Alps, made by the animation studio Zuiyo Eizo (which later became Nippon Animation) in 1974 and directed by Isao Takahata. The Heidi anime was popular all over the world, becoming a huge hit and an iconic animation series in several countries around the world. But the only incarnation of the series to reach the English language was a dub of the 1979 feature-length movie adaptation of the TV series, released on video in the United States in 1985.

Other versions of the story include:

• Heidi, a 1937 motion picture which starred Shirley Temple in the title role; the most famous film version of the story
• Heidi, a 1952 Swiss film version in German, with English subtitles, starring Elsbeth Sigmund (reportedly the most faithful film version up to then, filmed on location in Switzerland, and followed by a sequel, Heidi and Peter, in 1955, also starring Ms. Sigmund)
• Heidi, a 1968 telemovie which starred Jennifer Edwards with Maximillian Schell and Michael Redgrave (and infamously preempted the decisive final minutes of a televised American football game)
• Heidi, (1978). A 26 episode Swiss/German tv series, starring Katia Polletin as the young heroine, which was dubbed into various languages incl. English and shown widely throughout the world. Arguably the most definitive and famous dramatisation of the Heidi story with an instantly recognisable theme tune, this faithful adaptation of the story was largely filmed in the Engadin region of Switzerland.
• Heidi's Song, a 1982 animated film
• Heidi, a 1993 live action film. Newcomer Noley Thornton starred as Heidi. Co-stars included Jane Seymour as the spiteful Miss Rottenmeier, Jason Robards as Grandfather and Lexi Randall as Clara.
• Heidi, a 1996 animated film
• Heidi, a 2005 animated film