The Swiss Family Robinson (Illustrated Junior Library) [Hardcover]

Johann D. Wyss (Author), William H. G. Kingston (Editor), Lynd Ward (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Illustrated Junior Library | Publication Date: October 1, 1949

Relates the fortunes of a shipwrecked family as they adapt to life on an island with abundant animal and plant life.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 377 pages
• Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap; Deluxe edition (October 1, 1949)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0448032619
• ISBN-13: 978-0448060224
• ASIN: 0448060221
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #576,156 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good old-fashioned adventure, October 1, 2000

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Swiss Family Robinson (Illustrated Junior Library) (Hardcover)

Was it just me, or when you were a kid were you too mystified by why the castaways were so anxious to get off of Gilligan's Island? Personally, even if Ginger hadn't been there, it always seemed like a pretty idyllic existence. (Lost in Space was a little easier to fathom; Dr. Smith was a royal pain & the kids were profoundly annoying.) So when we were all sick one time and our Mom read us Swiss Family Robinson, one of the immense satisfactions of the tale was that most of the family decided to stay on their island after help came and even those who left seemed destined to return. A couple of years later we got to see the fine Disney version and, though it makes some significant changes in the story, it too has been a favorite of mine ever since.

Johann Wyss's classic (it was actually completed by his son) is an extraordinarily unsubtle family version of Robinson Crusoe. The Robinson's are shipwrecked somewhere near New Guinea but through pluck, self reliance, familial togetherness and a heavy dollop of Christian faith they manage to create fairly comfortable lives for themselves, domesticating seemingly every animal known to man and cultivating innumerable crops.

While their adventures are always instructive and informative, the book is awfully repetitious, we don't really need the blow by blow description of how each animal is tamed and every foodstuff harvested. And many folks will find the Christian message far to heavy-handed. I actually think this is a case where it's pretty easy to justify reading kids an abridged version, rather than the entire original text. But the story is great fun and is particularly interesting as an example of the Western man regnant species of writing. The sort of blithe assumption that this family would completely conquer the wilderness is a remnant of the age when white, Christian Europe/America had the utmost confidence in our Manifest Destiny to rule nature.

It's hard to imagine a book like this being written today. In fact, I recall a movie called Friday from several years ago, which portrayed Robinson Crusoe as a sort of helpless fop, completely dependent on Friday. In the current climate of political correctness, an author approaching the Swiss Family Robinson story would most likely ditch the religious angle entirely, have the family display much greater sensitivity for the animals which they readily exploit in the novel and, of course, there's no way the boys would be allowed to take such great pleasure in hunting and learning to shoot. But, as it stands, despite a little too much pedantry and proselytizing, this is just a good old-fashioned adventure--kids, boys in particular, should thoroughly enjoy it.

GRADE: B-

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars too fantastical and OUTDATED., January 13, 2012

By 

Melissa A. Halliday "book lover" (usa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Swiss Family Robinson (Illustrated Junior Library) (Hardcover)

i cannot say i liked this story. the whole thing is unrealistic although,it is well written. to explain the swiss family robinson in a nutshell...in the early 19th century the robinsons are shipwrecked on an island and must survive on their own,which they do. everything works like "magic" for them:they find food,they do not get sick,they do not get hurt. the island they are on has a completely false array of animals:jackals,kangaroos,eagles,monkeys-a sort-of "noah's ark" of the animal world. also the characters were one dimensional and we never get inside the mind of any of them. the whole story was very odd.
i believe the major problem with this story is that it was originally written in 1812 and i think the author
intended to "shock and awe" the people of the 19th century with his fantastic story of adventure. i believe what
has happened is that over time,the story has become outdated. sorry,but it does happen.
i would say to readers who have never read it,it could be read for curiosity's sake and it really is not for
young children,more for teens or adults.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent, unforgettable classic!, August 24, 2006

By 

History Ph.D. - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Swiss Family Robinson (Illustrated Junior Library) (Hardcover)

SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON is a magnificent classic! I read it when I was about twelve years old; I was rivetted by every scene then, and I still remember every scene now, more than forty years later. I cannot imagine anyone--adult or child--not being thrilled by this story of one family's struggle to survive a shipwreck, float supplies ashore before a storm destroyed the wreckage of their ship, build a tree house, plant crops and medicinal herbs, and, yes, slaughter the occasional animal to eat or to protect themselves! Nobody could object to this unforgettable classic except a vegetarian fanatic.