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    The Swiss Family Robinson: Timeless Classics
    The Swiss Family Robinson: Timeless Classics
    The Swiss Family Robinson: Timeless Classics
    Audiobook (abridged)1 hour

    The Swiss Family Robinson: Timeless Classics

    Written by Johann Wyss

    Narrated by Saddleback Educational Publishing

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Just one family survives the shipwreck. Now the father, mother, and their four young sons find themselves stranded on a remote island. What will it take to say alive? The odds are against them. But the clever, hard-working Robinsons have what it takes to face the ultimate test.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSaddleback Educational Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2011
    ISBN9781612475202
    The Swiss Family Robinson: Timeless Classics
    Author

    Johann Wyss

    Johann David Wyss was a Swiss writer best known for his children’s classic The Swiss Family Robinson. A pastor in Bern, Switzerland, Wyss’s writing was influenced by his four sons, and was intended to serve as a moral guide for self-reliance, farming, cooperation, and frugality. Wyss died in 1818 at the age of 74, six years after the publication of The Swiss Family Robinson.

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    Reviews for The Swiss Family Robinson

    3.5/5

    35 ratings23 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      It's been a very long time since I read this, but I think I still have my original copy from the Junior Deluxe Editions book club my parents signed me up for. I'm sure I read it more than once, because I have such clear memories of the adventures. I especially loved how they could always find things they needed on the wrecked ship.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book!!! It was difficult to put down therefore this was a "nothing else got done" kinda book. It was wonderful to read about how God came first, as it should be, and how getting back to the basics brings family blessings unmeasurable.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      A story about a family sentenced to live in a paradise of raw materials and quality tools where they enjoy near-constant divine intervention on their behalf. There's no tension or depth in the book, just an inventory of their industry, consumption, and slaughter.
    • 2/5
      I remember trying to read this book when I was a child. I didn't enjoy it. I did, however, enjoy the movie better. The story concerns a Swiss family's adventure in the South Pacific after being shipwrecked. It's a story of survival. After seeing another person's review here on LibraryThing, I decided to revisit the book to see if my adult tastes in reading made a difference in my like/dislike of the book. Unfortunately I found that the book had not aged well, even though it is considered a classic. It's one of the few books which fall into the category, "Skip the book; watch the movie instead."
    • 2/5
      I dunno...I know the purpose of the book was to teach kids and people how to survive in the wild, and maybe I'd find it more interesting as an adult, but it was so dry! I liked the movie better :-D
    • 3/5
      My memories of this story came from the Disney movie. So I noticed the differences. Disney reduce the number of sons to three. In the book they have 4 sons. The later half is quite different from the movie.I was surprised by how violent the boys were toward the animals they met. How they would "punish" an animal. The father really disliked his son Ernest. Ernest was a thinker and more serious not as inclined to physical action, so the father dismissed him as lazy. It made me uncomfortable how the mother wanted then to stay with her. She dreaded her son's going off and having their own lives.
    • 3/5
      I read this aloud to my children and they enjoyed it once the action got going. I think they were a bit credulous at the way the survivors managed so well on the island, yet it was fun to read anyway. Besides, that was one of their favorite places at Disney Land, though I think it has been changed now to something more modern. Loved the discussion in the book of the things seaweed is good for and its various properties.
    • 5/5
      Swiss Family Robinson is a great family adventure story. Its old but still a great read with lots of action. If you like this definitely try Kidnapped.
    • 4/5
      3.5 starsThis is the story of the family (mom, dad, and four boys) who were shipwrecked on a deserted island and how they managed to survive. It was entertaining, but not believable. The father knew everything about everything, and pretty much everything went right. Every animal they came across they were able to kill or capture for some kind of use – food, eggs, pets, or something else. Not only that, there was quite an international variety of plants and animals: hyena, ostrich, kangaroo, lion, penguin, walrus, boa, pineapple and much more... Overall, I thought it was still enjoyable, but one has to be able to suspend reality. I did (mostly) like the ending.
    • 4/5
      Written from the perspective of the father, it chronicles the first-hand account of the shipwreck and survival of a Swiss family of six on a remote island somewhere near New Guinea. The family consists of a Swiss pastor who is a walking encyclopedia on agricultural practices from around the world; his wife who excels in equal measure with culinary skills, and four energetic sons. Displaying remarkable resilience and resourcefulness, they survive completely alone for over ten years until their rescue. In the process, they create their own European civilization, showing complete mastery over animals and plants, and creatively establishing houses. The bulk of the novel consists of their struggle for survival with their endless discovery of new species of plants and animals..
    • 2/5
      Perhaps their lives would have been even better if they spent less time praying and thanking god. This aspect of the book became very annoying very quickly. The least favorite (for me) of the Robinson-type marooned-on-an-island type books (Defoe, Verne, Etc).
    • 3/5
      The Swiss Family Robinson is about a family that shipwrecks on an Edenlike island. Thier shipwreck and the rest of the crew takes the boats and leave. This book is very interesting, but it gets boring after a while.
    • 3/5
      Loved it as a kid. As a grown up reading it TO my kids, it was a little tedious in places. And I got a kick out of how many different species of animal exists on their little island.Most amusing.
    • 5/5
      This book is about the Robinson family getting stuck on a abanden ship. In the begining of the book the family is on a ship headed to sweden but end up in a bad srorm and crash in to a big rock. The crew abanen them and the father said the ship wont sink fast and they would sleep tell tomarow. In the middle of the book they find saliler also ship reced on the same island as them. At the end of the book the get saved but only the two sons and the sailer who is actuly a girl leave the island why'll their mom, dad, and yunger brother stayes.
    • 2/5
      As an adult this story is ridiculously irritating.The ship they were shipwrecked from happened to be outfitting a colony and therefore has all the tools and growing crops you could wish for. The island has a good selection of edible plants, trees and animals, as well as running potable water. The family between them can manage everything and know how to do everything they need without having a survival manual to hand.If you can get past all that it's a good and classic novel.
    • 4/5
      I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did- I thought I'd be bored with it and put off by the fact that an impossible variety of animals and other inaccuracies were coupled with the know-it-all tales of the father. I ended up being fascinated by everything they did. All their adventures, all their creations, everything that made living in the wilderness a civilized and abundant life for them. The ending had some interesting implications- if they indeed started a colony, they wouldn't have the same abundance, but at the same time, they'd have friendship and a future.
    • 2/5
      So. A family gets shipwrecked on an island. They happily build some houses, plant food-bearing plants, tame some local animals, and kill one of everything else they see to put in their "museum". The head of the household is a pious man, who luckily seems to know everything about every animal/plant/indigenous custom that ever existed. This father is the narrator of the story. It seems that at every turn there is an opportunity for him to impart some specialised knowledge and moral lesson for his sons. I found him to be stuffy and arrogant, but that was the time I suppose. The only thing saving this story for me was that it was originally a bedtime story told to the authors sons. In that context I can see the fast moving events working, but in the novel form it is repetitive and borderline meaningless
    • 2/5
      This is considered a classic, and I liked a lot action and the inventions the family created when they were stranded on the island, but I was not able to keep my disbelief suspended. For example, the father knew every species they came across. I don't believe that anyone in 1800, no matter how well-read he was, would react to every species (both plant and animal) with a spurt of perfect knowledge of that species. Fun book, for the most part.
    • 3/5
      A family finds themselves shipwrecked on an island of plenty. They depend on their own hard work and wits to survive. Father is the all knowing leader, the mother a patient hardworking partner, and the four boys each of their quirks. I probably would have enjoyed it more when I was 12 and didn't cringe at some of the archaic language and ideas. Hard to see using it in class, except to hand to a strong reader for a possible challenge book.
    • 3/5
      A little dated, but always a classic.
    • 1/5
      I love the good classics. For example we have all books in the Anne of Green Gables series. They are obviously written in a different time and in a style that was common then: lots of description and day-to-day happenings without a strong plot. But these books give a beautiful and interesting flavour of times past.This book, however... I completely fail to understand why this ever became a classic.It starts well, but soon the book gets bogged in chapter after chapter of problems too easily solved, self-righteous preaching and family wholesomeness that I find unbelievable. In addition to this, the author appears not to have had one ounce of knowledge regarding the world's geography, climate and plant species.If you want to read classics to your kids, find something else.
    • 4/5
      This book is about a family who gets shipwrecked. They take refuge on the shore of an island and hope someone comes to rescue them. Eventually they decide to begin making a home for themselves. The boys help their father create an amazing tree house. The family spends their days adventuring around the island and their nights playing music and dancing! The littlest brother is my favorite because he likes to catch and train wild animals on the island. The older brothers go off to explore the other part of the island and end up saving a girl (who they think is a boy at first). The brothers vie for her attention and both develop crushes on her. In the end they are rescued by the girls grandfather, but all but one brother choses to stay on the island and continue living the dream life!
    • 2/5
      I was genuinely surprised at how much I disliked this book. The father was ridiculously knowledgeable and moralistic. Yuck!