Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss (Illustrated)

Such a great, great movie--one of my all time favorite, in fact. How did it attain that status? It made realistic characters that you could believe in and distinguish, one from another. It truly made the family the protagonist. It cared about the characters first, and the cool treehouse secondary although, you have to admit, the treehouse in that movie is AMAZING. And finally, there was a plot! The characters were constantly working with an underlying conflict, and it culminated in a worthy climax.

In short, the movie fixed everything that was wrong with the book Going into the reading with these expectations, it is little wonder that Johann Wyss is getting the brunt of my frustrations here, but in reality the book is harmless. Long, boring, and redundant It is a great idea, some unique settings, and some simple fun. It is just a matter of sifting through all of the drudgery to get them. May 12, carrie rated it it was ok. It was so ridiculous! The boys shoot every animal they see, which range from inhabitants of the African savannah, Australia, and the American northwest -- yes, hippos, rhinos, lions, tigers, kangaroos, bears, elephants, the duck-billed platypus, you name it, they're on the island.

The father knows absolutely everything about every plant and animal, and sums up every situation correctly before it happens. He recognizes plants like flax and wax bushes. For a deserted island, it's interesting that there is absolutely everything that they could possibly need and that the father who has never lived in the West Indies recognizes it all at a glance. Oh -- also, their European trees that happened to be on the ship grow just fine in the blazing tropical sun. There is no conflict because the father knows his way out of any trouble , and the only story is "we went here, shot this animal, made this hut, etc.

The last chapter was the most interesting. I could see a young boy who doesn't mind old-fashioned language who's into hunting and survival liking this book but that's about it, so I'll keep it just in case Ethan falls into that category. There is no hot girl for the boys to fight over either! I read at the end that the author thought of the story to give his sons survival ideas, and I don't think that's so bad, but if you're going to set a novel in the West Indies, and you know so much about flora and fauna, you could try to make the flora and fauna of the island authentic.

There -- I'm done venting, and very glad to be done with the book! View all 14 comments. May 22, Amy rated it did not like it Shelves: Before you read this book, I must warn you! The back of the book is a LIE! All of that "they must rely on their wits, the strength that comes from family ties, and the bounty of nature to survive" is all a crock of baloney.

They're stranded with enough supplies to start a small colony. Not to mention an island so hospitable it has salt for preserving, cotton, flax, rubber, and an overabundance of game. It would be more surprising, if they all died. Not to mention, that every chapter reads like a how-to-book. I can almost hear the conversation with the publisher. Johann, no one wants to read this how-to-manual. And there are dozens more just like it.

It's needs something extra, a hook, some zing. But this is useful! I know, put it on a desert island! Forced to rely on their wits alone! They'll have to do everything with the bounty of nature. How can I do that? Ten days later Publisher: You said put it on a desert island. They're on a desert island. But you gave them everything! Where's the people starving? It's hard work to start a village! They work hard in almost every chapter, plus I added games and parables for the little children.

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Fine, fine, but I can't guarantee that anyone will buy it. Seriously, if you want a cute story about people starting a colony on a desert island with all the necessary tools go for it. Personally, I think it reads like a how-to-manual, but if you like that, then this book is for you. I'm not saying it's poorly written, or that it's not a cute little story, but it's not the adventure it's made out to be. Hell it doesn't even have much of a plot. So if you're looking for an island adventure book, find a different one.

View all 8 comments. Apr 06, Jill rated it really liked it.

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I've read this a couple times to the boys. As a mom of boys, I loved it. It is fun to read of the ingenious solutions for survival, and I love their constant reliance on and gratitude to God. I love the many passages of the book that go something like this After my wife and children had expressed their ideas, I explained the folly of their reasoning and they rejoiced in my knowledge and wisdom. The enchanting story of a shipwrecked family - a minister, his wife, and four sons, Fritz, Ernest, Francis, and Jack - who are cast up on a desert island, build a wonderful house in a tree, and survive so cleverly and happily apart from the world that they never want to be rescued.

And from the inside back cover: The author of The Swiss Family Robinson was actually a number of people. Originally, Swiss Army chaplain Johann David Wyss wrote an adventure story modeled after Daniel Defoe The enchanting story of a shipwrecked family - a minister, his wife, and four sons, Fritz, Ernest, Francis, and Jack - who are cast up on a desert island, build a wonderful house in a tree, and survive so cleverly and happily apart from the world that they never want to be rescued.

Originally, Swiss Army chaplain Johann David Wyss wrote an adventure story modeled after Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe to amuse his four sons, who, one imagines, found their counterparts in age and character in their father's book. One of these sons, Johann Rudolf , edited and published his father's manuscript in A French translation by Mme.

The first and further embroidered English translation soon followed, and several years later Mme. Other writers, editors, and translators continued to add and subtract material, and the book continued to appear in various guises until, in , WHG Kingston's shorter version was published and soon became the English standard. But even the Kingston version contains the zoologically improbable profusion of animals for which the book is noted - penguins, ostriches, kangaroos, jackals, and so on - not to mention terrain of amazing diversity and every variety of plant the castaways could ever want.

And all this one one undiscovered and uninhabited, though fairly large, tropical island. Certainly The Swiss Family Robinson is one of the most beloved adventure-discovery books of all time, but one should not be tempted to use it as a survival manual, for disappointment would surely follow!

So, I included that blurb from inside the back cover largely because I personally find the last sentence in it kind of hilarious, but certainly not inaccurate. I think I'd have to say that this may be one of the most ridiculous books I've ever read, and not in a good way. There are so many things wrong with it I barely know where to start.

Let's start with the extremely stilted writing style. Now, knowing what I now do about how many people have had their hands on this book, it's entirely possible that Wyss's original writing was so eloquent one could weep, and the suck that's left is simply a result of being translated back and forth by way too many people. But whatever the cause, it's basically terrible.

Consider the following, a piece of dialogue between the narrator and his wife: Who talks like that? Nobody bloody well talks like that, but that kind of ridiculous writing is all the way through the book. Oh, and as for "my dear wife," this poor woman has a name Elizabeth , which we learn on page 67, and never hear again. In the entire book, Elizabeth is referred to by name exactly twice. The rest of the time she's "my wife," which is tolerable, or, more frequently, "the mother.

That drove me absolutely nuts. Then there's the profusion of "zoologically improbable" animals, which is a severe understatement, and also only the tip of the absurd convenience iceberg. This island seriously has to be the most awesome place to be shipwrecked ever, because it really does contain absolutely everything you could possibly ever want to survive and build anything you can conceive of.

I'm half surprised they didn't find some sort of silica deposits that they could use to construct themselves computers. If it had been written later, I bet it would have. And if finding a particular object on the island was too absurd even for the author s to conceive of, the family could just get it off the wreck of the actual ship, which was conveniently wrecked, largely intact, on a rock very close to the island, where they could travel regularly to strip it of all kinds of "articles of infinite value.

Seriously, they lived in such luxury, it barely qualifies as shipwreck, if you ask me. It bugs me, too and don't even ask why this particular thing bugs me so much , that, for example, after they've been on the island for several years, they suddenly find evidence of elephants around one of the establishments. It's almost conceivable that, in exploring to a part of the island where they've never been before, they might find traces of an animal they haven't previously encountered or seen any signs of, but in a place they frequent regularly, and have for several years?

Animals are creatures of habit, and if you don't see them around a particular spot within a year, chances are, they won't show up there ever.

Unless, of course, you've screwed up the ecosystem of this island so badly that you alter animals' usual patterns. Which is entirely conceivable. Why, I ask you, does a family of six need half a dozen homes on this island?

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

I understand having two, because winter and summer have different shelter requirements, and sometimes it's just easier to construct two different shelters than to try and make one serve dual purpose. But another one here, and another one in this other place we've discovered, and another on over there, etc?

I get that sometimes you might want to go to spot X to avail yourself of resource Y that is found in that area, and that sometimes you may need to stay there for a few days while you're gathering the stuff or whatever. You don't need a whole other abode, whose main purpose seems to be something for you to build to occupy your time, and to take umbrage when the local monkeys show up and wreak havoc in it. Which is precisely what precipitated two of the most disturbing episodes in this book. In both cases, they show up at one of their settlements that they rarely use anyway, to find that the monkeys have made a mess.

And instead of thinking, "Gee, maybe we've expanded enough," they decide to set traps and kill all the monkeys that show up next time. And not to eat, or skin, or do anything useful with. No no, once the monkeys are dead, they just bury them. I found both instances appallingly unnecessary savagery. Further evidence of their excessively expansionist tendencies is that every time they discover a new animal, they simply must either kill as many of them as possible Seriously?

Your stores aren't adequate? Based on the killing related in the book, they could survive years without killing anything else , or capture at least one and relocate it to one of their homes. These animals were living perfectly contentedly where they were, and now that you know where that is, if you need them, you can come get them. I especially loved how, when they discovered a pack of ostriches and decided to capture one of them to be tamed and ridden, btw , did they go for one of the females?

They went after the one male in the group. Way to destroy the ostriches' chance of continued survival, losers. It's all presented in such a happy-go-lucky way, but all I could think while reading this book was how incredibly wantonly they were just destroying the natural resources and populations on this island.

What else is new when humans show up, though, I guess. I could go on, but let me just touch briefly upon the absurdity of the last line in the back cover blurb. They don't ever want to be rescued? The four boys are perfectly content with the options of either celibacy or incest?

Good thing Miss Montrose showed up when she did, really. I also love how these parents, unlike pretty much every parent in the time period, and most parents even nowadays, don't seem remotely concerned about the fact that by staying on this island, their boys won't be able to get married or have children of their own. I'm imagining what would happen if they didn't end up getting rescued, with everyone dying until Franz, the youngest, was finally left all by himself on this island.

Nice fate you're wishing on your children, parents. This lack of concern was particularly evident when they did find other people, and "the mother" was asked if she would like to go or stay, and she declared that she'd like to stay, as long as at least two of the boys stayed too. It's a little less screwed up after they go on to talk about how they'd like to bring in more people, and actually form something of a colony the better to completely destroy the island, I guess , but still. Shouldn't most mothers be a little more anxious for their boys to get the hell off this deserted island so they can meet some nice girls and get married?

And you know what? Much of this could be forgiven if the story were interesting or compelling. Aside from the initial shipwreck, absolutely nothing happens to these people that could be classified as anything more than a trivial inconvenience. There's no real drama or suspense, and that rendered the whole thing just incredibly dull. And that is what's really unforgivable about this book.

And one final note, this one directed at the cover illustrator. When dogs are described in a book as being mastiffs, maybe you don't draw what is clearly a golden retriever on the cover. Jun 12, Drayton Alan rated it it was amazing. Its fascinating to read these reviews and see how many people judge a story of this time period by the values of the 21st century.

I doubt any of the people who have written these reviews have ever missed a meal let alone faced the dangers of survival in a wilderness. The story was written to fire the minds and hearts of children of the day. It taught them about the things that were important to their future and their families. Try to remember that a child reading this book in Europe may have Its fascinating to read these reviews and see how many people judge a story of this time period by the values of the 21st century. Try to remember that a child reading this book in Europe may have grown up and found in this story a motivation for seeking a better life in the new worlds of America, Australia or the Pacific islands.

These children grew up to be the settlers of the Old West and of wild places that we now take for granted as tamed. They were parents of the cowboys and farmers that built the nations of today.

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The use of animals to survive was consistent with the views of the day. If you read this book with an appreciation for the time and culture of when it was written you will learn and understand the people of that time better. View all 3 comments. I had no idea this one had so many negative reviews Johann Wyss originally wrote the story in the early s.

This book is filled with adventure, sorrow, and more! A family becomes shipwrecked on a deserted island, but they get many items from their ship including guns, ammunition, animals, and other items. They survive and thrive on this lush island, filled with everything else they need.

In the beginning, a violent storm shipwrecks this family of six on two rocks near an island. The father devises a plan to get them off the ship and onto the island. Another exiting event is later, when they have become accustomed to the island, they decide to tie the heavy items left on the partially sunken ship to barrels and blow up the ship, to make the heavy items float to shore. Sadly, one day, while walking their animals, an enormous snake appeared and ate their donkey.

They used this opportunity to kill the snake, but their poor donkey Grizzle was dead. If you like adventure and survival, this is a great book for you. Will the family survive? Will they ever get back to civilization? Find out by reading this book! This is the most loved of all the books I read in my childhood over 60 years ago -and the most remembered. Somewhere in heaven there is Johann David Wyss smiling - a better author I never found that could keep my imagination going for so well and so long.

This book's hard cover in the 's became dog-eared at first, then pages got creased, then the cover broke off and was lost in a rain and high wind hurricane in Rhode Island one year, then the back cover went also one day overside a boat I was on by accident, and I had the rest of the spine re-glued twice by my 5 th grade school teacher to make sure the rest didn't go away too- I read it and re-read it multiple times- before I was ready to go take on the world I found in this enchanting fun to read and discover with book.

I'm in my 6th decade now and am reading it again - and they are just like memories- still there, still waiting for me to climb and hunt and learn and do the things with the Robinson family that I couldn't do as a child - but oh I wanted to! I made a pact with myself that I would try to do as many as I could of what the Robinsons found and did.

I think I succeeded - I have been to and lived in not a few countries and seen and done many things - and I owe a lot of the imagination that took me out into the world - to this Book. This is a great book. It teaches many great values, like the value of being optimistic, the value of hard work, the value and importance of strong families, and the importance of being curious. The value of being optimistic is taught through the example of this Swiss family. Being shipwrecked on an uninhabited island, they immediately explore the island and find many useful things through their ingenuity and problem solving.

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Because they work hard, they are able to find many foods and other plants that are useful to their survival. Throughout this story, you consistently see how each family member is valued, each family member uses their talents as best they can to help and serve one another. In life, we must focus on others. Trying to help others makes life more fulfilling, and helps us refine our talents. My seven-year-old daughter loves to read and I was eager to introduce her to the classics in English literature. I knew the original versions might be too daunting for her due to the high level vocabulary and have been looking around for well-written adaptations that retain the essence of the original.

The language in this adaptation is pitched just right, neither too easy nor too advanced for an independent young reader. The story has enough drama and action to keep a young reader engaged. There are many other classics in the Stepping Stones Classics chapter book series, and I highly recommend them for independent young readers who'd like to read the classics. There are also two DVDs which I think would be lovely complements to this book: The book is a vibrant orange, the spine sports a beautiful image,the corners are a little worn otherwise I would have gave 5 stars.

It is a great looking book. I included pictures of front, back, spine, pages, and corners. Alien of Northern MI. Some light fading to edges of moire end papers, common in these editions. The Swiss family Robinson: Antique look with Golden Leaf Printing and embossing with round Spine completely handmade binding extra customization on request like Color Leather, Colored book, special gold leaf printing etc.

Reprinted in with the help of original edition published long back []. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases some pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure in old look so we brought it back to the shelves.

Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. Normal Hardbound Edition is also available on request. This book has hardback covers. Ex-library, With usual stamps and markings, In poor condition, suitable as a reading copy. Level 1 Bring the Classics to Life: Level 1 Johann David Wyss