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One of my favorite books is Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1661 to 1731, see my review). I enjoy real stories of survival by castaways on desert islands that also contain the theme of building a civilization. If Robinson Crusoe was the original such book, then Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss, Swiss pastor, written in the very early 1800s, is a worthy successor. People say that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Wyss did imitate Defoe’s book since he loved it so much, but he made the shipwrecked people to be a godly family of four boys and a father and mother, and the story is told from the father’s point of view. Wyss’ book is filled with hard-earned wisdom, ingenuity, bravery, and endurance – all filtered through the eyes of a Christian family giving praise to God as they work really, really hard and endure many dangers. Their faith does not make them immune to dangers but their lives show that faith in God does help one emotionally and spiritually endure hardships and enables believers to triumph in Christ in the midst of trials. David Gentleman’s two-tone engravings add to the story in this lavish edition by the Heritage Press.
An interesting fact is that Johann Wyss never intended for his book to be published. He only wrote and illustrated it for his family’s enjoyment. Only later did one of the sons suggest that the manuscript should be published. The book became popular, so much so that a French translation greatly extended the story for sale in France. Subsequent English translations went back to the original German and cut away the extraneous material added by the French publishers. The reading level is probably high school or upper middle school, since the text is sophisticated – exciting to read, but sophisticated.
This review also covers a picture-book format edition for younger children (elementary school level), either to read by them or to them. I usually don’t like abridged and adapted versions of classic novels. The reason for my dislike is that the versions I have seen were not done by very good authors! Abridging and adapting a great book for a younger audience is not an easy task. Luckily, this abridged and adapted version of Swiss Family Robinson was written by Felix Sutton, who was the author of Bambi, itself a classic story. He makes the adaptation read well, including many of the most important events and weaving them together into a coherent story. In other words, he didn’t just chop and reword like so many other abridge/adapt efforts. The story is aided greatly by lovely illustrations by William Barss. Hopefully, this edition for younger children will lead them one day to the original.