About this title: The Swiss Family Robinson is an adventure story with a decidedly domestic centre, in which smugness and safety thoroughly outbalance the element of danger. Inspired by Rousseau's theories of education, the story of the shipwrecked Swiss pastor and his family is liberally seasoned with suspense, adventure, and discovery. Popular from the moment of its publication in 1812. it established a pattern for children's literature and continues to appeal to young readers and adults alike. This book is intended for students and teachers of children's literature, historians, philosophy/theological ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. shelf wear. xiii, 498 p. illus. Translation of Der schweizerische Robinson. "First published in this edition 1910. Last reprinted 1946. " "Jean [Johann] Rudolf Wyss...[is the] nominal or completing author. " read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap, New York
Date Published: 1963
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. vi, 344 p. illus. 20 cm. Translation of: Der schweizerische Robinson. "5468. " read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap, New York
Date Published: 1949
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. 377 p. illus. (part col. ) 21 cm. Translation of: Der schweizerische Robinson. "Popular edition. "--Dust jacket. read more
"I started reading this book while sitting around, waiting to take my N test. It was a pretty good book, but quite different from the classic movie. I liked hearing about how the family lived, and what they did for food, shelter and entertainment. However, it got tedious at times because so much of the stuff they did was repetative, only involving a different animal or a different plant. And they didn't have any bad luck. Everything happened to work out for them. They tamed a full-grown, wild ostrich! The only thing that went wrong was when the boys tried to make pemmican. It failed, so they gave it to the dogs. But it was still a pretty good book, and I think I'll read it to my kids one day."
"Honestly, I was expecting pirates and huge adventure, the riding of ostriches and whatnot, like elaborate treehouses. That's not exactly what this book is. Or, maybe that's putting it lightly. This book is nothing like that.
The book was written in german in 1812 and translated in 1816. It was originally written as a guide for raising a family, and was probably a very useful tool at that time. The father, and hero of the story, has a wife and four sons between about 7 and 15 years. The ages of the sons help to showcase several stages in psychological development.
The book is primarily made up of finding, identifying, shooting or raising various animals for food or labor. The finiding and using/eating plants for vairous reasons and cultivating them to suit their needs. This is the basic revolving storyline.
There is not contact with anyone else on or off the island. It is solely a story of how the family survives...and one is left wondering how they will continue to survive by the end...there being no chance at reproduction and colonization of the island.
If you're expecting this to be the Disney movie in book format, you're wrong. However, there are several later versions of this book with sub-plots added in. Maybe one of those has pirates, but I certainly cannot tell you which might (a Disney version?).
It wasn't awful, but it was a let down from what I expected. The only book I've read that wasn't better than the movie."
"This is the book that started my interest in "survival" stories and I recalled it fondly from childhood. Wow- what a bloodthirsty book this is! If it moved, they shot it- in great numbers! OK, so they were eating it all (except the monkeys which they just poisoned en masse). Very un-green by modern standards. I had also not noticed as a child how improbable this place was with almost every kind of animal imaginable, all types of tropical and temperate flora (oak trees and coconut palms, pine trees and bamboo), natural resources up the wazoo, and almost every crop they planted prospered. And it annoyed me the way "the mother" never even had a name. Through adult eyes this was much more a tall tale than an adventure. But I still enjoy survival stories (and tree-houses)."
"I had hesitated to read this as I enjoyed the Disney movie and comparing books and movies don't usually work well. However, setting the movie aside, this was quite different as the story took second place to the wonders of nature and survival emphasized in the book. Written a couple of hundred years ago as a story for boys (some parts are slightly unbelievable but just as boys would like)and so in that pedantic style, it was still good. As the end says, "It will make me happy to think that my simple narrative may lead some of these to observe how blessed are the results of patient continuance in well-doing, what benefits arise from the thoughtful application of knowledge and science, and how good and pleasant a thing it is when brethren dwell together in unity, under the eye of parental love.""
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