Classic Starts®: The Swiss Family Robinson (Classic Starts® Series)

My 10 year old boy, an advanced reader, who enjoys adventure, said this was a fantastic book and one of the best he's ever read. The language is a bit old fashioned at times and more challenging than modern children's books, but that's not a bad thing.

I re-read this fascinating story of adventure, daring, serendipity and skilful adaptation to adversity last week. It was as enjoyable as in my teenage years.

If you love adventure, then this is the MUST HAVE book to read this year! Packed full of adventure, discovery, suspense, and family committment. The author is the father of the family as he guides you from their trip departing Europe towards the Americas, their fateful shipwreck en route, discovering their island, building a home then seeing it ransacked by marauding monkeys! The animals & birds they encounter while managing to tame a few, skirmishes with "savages", kidnapping & rescue. Well worth the read!

This is a classic adventure story of the Robinson family - mum, dad and four boys - shipwrecked on a tropical island following a terrible storm. They are the sole survivors of the wreck and must find the means to subsist with few prospects of being rescued. Luckily for the family the ship is wedged on some rocks and they are able to make many trips back to salvage everything they need from the wreck - tools, kit to make a boat, food, books, even farm animals. They are also very lucky that the island itself is well-endowed for their survival. They manage to tame wild animals, catch birds, fish and animals for food. They build themselves a treehouse home and a winter cave-home too. The father of the family is an expert on designing and building all that they need and he explains his processes ad nauseum, conveniently finding all that he needs to create his masterpieces. So the island becomes home to this happy family and they have all they need for a reasonably comfortable existence. When reading this we have to remember that it is coming up to 200 years since it was first published in German. Much of the story doesn't fit well with the modern reader. The boys, for example, seem to have a shoot first policy with anything that moves and are totally unsqueamish about skinning, gutting, tanning for leather etc. They almost seem to kill for fun, not just for survival, and some of these animals are endangered now so this sits uneasily with the modern reader. The author takes liberties with the flora and fauna on the island in order to provide his protagonists with all that they need. There was one moment that sums it up for me where the father says they could do with some clay and one of the sons pipes up to say he found some that morning. Of course, I thought, how convenient. I would love to say this is a swash-bucklingly exciting adventure story but it was repetitive and tedious and I came close to giving up a couple of times. It did pick up from time to time and that's what kept me going. It verged on being exciting in the last quarter when they encounter 'savages' but even that brought more convenient coincidences to ease the family's path and, without wanting to give too much away, the ending is somewhat Harry Potter-esque with everyone ending up married to everyone else. In all this stands up as a classic and I'm pleased to have read it. It would have been wonderful to the eighteenth-century child but it doesn't stand up to the scutiny of the modern reader. If it was published today it would be dismissed as a piece of far-fetched nonsense.

I had read this story in my mother language many times since childhood. When I see the free English-version kindle edition, I'm really excited. I need to admit that the fun of story began to disappear when I grew up. Still, this is always one of my favourite children book. The story is full of imagination, adventure, a well recommended for parents.

kept to the original story. no alterations that I could observe, print was clear and well ordered. I might even read iot again.

This is the original story, of a family that are shipwrecked, and have to survive on a deserted island. The plot is fairly simple and takes the reader through the various activities that the family undertakes. It's split into two parts; the first being the first four years of isolation until they are discovered by a passing ship. The second part covers the years after that. I would suggest that many people have seen the Disney film based upon this story. The tree house, the variety of animals and the pioneering nature of the family will be familiar. However, the Disney scriptwriters did make some key alterations. I agree that there are many sections where the author seems overly keen to elaborate just how many animals they kill in order to provide food, but that is probably just an example of the thinking of the day. However, it also highlights how with a little hard work and perseverance, people can build a satisfying lifestyle for themselves. The book is fairly easy to read, and could be enjoyed by people of most ages.

Very quick delivery, lovely book in great condition.

Only half of the book arrived. It starts on page 73, chapter 11. There's 72 pages missing.

Very good quality book

Sebbene in passato godesse di buona fama, negli ultimi tempi questo romanzo non viene più tradotto, quelle poche traduzioni risultano estremamente ridotte, scorciate rispetto all'originale. Si tratta del romanzo da cui è stato tratto l'anime Flo, la piccola Robinson. Interessante.

Remembering my childhood

Exactamente el libro que esperaba, perfecto para el nivel indicado que dicen, a mi hija le ha encantado, super chulo