Customer Reviews

Heidi's Alp: One Family's Search for Storybook Europe

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we'll be so glad that we can follow in the footsteps of a family who has gone before. This book tells the story of a jounrey of a month-and-a-little-more, a family's caravaning around Europe, seeking out the real locations of, and the stories behind, some favorite childrens' stories and fairy tales. I picked it up because, as a Heidi, named after the book, I wanted to read about their adventures in the Alps, and their quest for Heidi's House on the Alm Uncle's mountain, but I was just as captivated by the tale of the Hamlin rats, the inspirations of and by Hans Christian Andersen, the truth behind Hans Brinker's Silver Skates and the Boy Who Saved Holland, and a sweet appearance by Babar The Elephant. Anyone with any magic in their souls and their bookcases will be captivated by this sweet, earnest journey. And I would love to see what the little girls, now all grown women, think of their trip. Do they take their children on such magical journeys?

This quiet little gem sat on one of my mother's many bookshelves for a number of years. She would read it periodically and kept telling me how neat it was and that I really ought to read it. Finally when I had taken a deep interest in children's literature (I was catching up on things I had missed as a precocious child reading 'Gone with the Wind') as an adult, I decided to take a look.
It was astounding.
It was a smart travel guide, (the author traipsed through western europe in a caravan with small children) combined with history, thoughtful opinions about classic fairytales, and memoir all rolled into one.
One couldn't help but want to reread a number of books, fufill a yen to travel about the countryside in search of the very places one reads about.
It definitely reminds me of Anne Fadiman's essay on 'Being There' where one reads a book in the place where it may have taken place. Imagine being on Heidi's alp, or the shore where the little mermaid found herself with legs, or in the dark woods that Hansel and Gretl wandered in fear.
A true highlight of the book was the story of Hamlin. It left me with nightmares and deep curiosity about the children who disappeared so many hundreds of years ago.
One will not be disappointed with this small book.

Imagine being a mother with a large family of girls and putting them all on a trailer, like Lucy and Ricky, and driving thousands of miles through Europe on a journey into the heart of children's literature! That's the prospect of Christina Hardyment's wonderful if far-fetched book. The family comes armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of children's literature from Hans Christian Andersen to Pinocchio, and a lot of research was done which, back in the days before the internet, must have been teduious to the extreme.

They all seem to have had a splendid time. It makes me want to take the same trip and follow, a generation later, in the footsteps of this intrepid, charming family. I wonder if the low key theme parks that Christina Hardyment describes have been upgraded (or downgraded, depending on your point of view) into more high-tech and impersonal thrill rides. And yes, one does wonder how the little girls grew up and what kind of family life do they see themselves as having! I suppose that's just human nature, wondering "what happened afterward," just as in a fairy story.

I've read this book repeatedly; it's a wonderful, honest account of a family's trip across Europe to find locations mentioned in classic children's literature. It details some of the travails as well as triumphs of traveling with young children, and also explores the differences between the scenes you imagine when you read and the scenes you encounter when you travel. A terrific book and a great gift for anyone who loves children's literature.