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    The Swiss Family Robinson
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    The Swiss Family Robinson
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    The Swiss Family Robinson
    Ebook90 pages40 minutes

    The Swiss Family Robinson

    By Graphic Novels Campfire

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A graphic novel adaptation of Johann David Wyss's The Swiss Family Robinson from Campfire.

    When a boat travelling to Australia hits a reef and is destroyed, only one family survives. Shipwrecked on an island, and with no sign of rescue, the Robinsons are forced to use whatever means possible to stay alive.

    Through their struggles, the members of the family learn, not only how to survive, but also how to enjoy themselves in the face of adversity. The pastor, his wife and four children share many experiences together - both arduous and fun - and grow closer as a result.

    This classic tale of adventure on a desert island is exciting to read, as much as it is a story with a moral.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGraphic Novels Campfire
    Release dateSep 15, 2009
    ISBN9788190732697
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Swiss Family Robinson

    3.5/5

    705 ratings44 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Digital audiobook read by Frederick Davidson. Originally published in 1812, this is a classic adventure tale of a mother, father and four sons who are shipwrecked on an unnamed (and apparently uncharted) tropical island in the South Seas. I had never read the book, though I had seen the Disney movie back in the ‘60s. My adult self recognizes the glaringly implausible (and, frankly, impossible) scenarios – penguins AND bears AND ostriches! – but the adventure still captures the imagination. I also got a bit tired of the Father’s propensity to lecture; my stars, but the man is a walking encyclopedia and he feels compelled to impart his knowledge constantly. Since he is also the narrator, his superior attitude has plenty of opportunity to “shine.” Still, there is much practical information as well as natural history explained, and there are some very exciting scenes to capture the imagination of a young would-be explorer. There are multiple editions of this classic and some have modernized the language to make it “more accessible to today’s students.” One edition I looked at had the narrator always referring to “the Mother,” never naming this strong woman but relegating her to only that role in life. The edition I wound up reading at least had the narrator referring to her as “my wife.” Again, no name but at least showing a personal relationship.
    • 2/5
      Maybe it's the translation but I tried to read this book (aloud) to my children and it bored us all unremittingly ...
    • 3/5
      A very curious reading from a historical perspective. What would life on an uninhabited island in the southern seas look like from a 19th century man's perspective? Apparently it would mostly consist of killing and/or taming any wild beast imaginable from all five continents. On that island the brave Robinson family encounters penguins, lions, walruses, kangaroos, ostriches, lions, elephants, bears, etc. I believe the learned Mr. Wyss felt an immense pressure to be just and not to overlook any creature he may have had a fortune to come across in his studies.

      A little spoiler to add drama: some beasts were killed, while riding one of the aforementioned ostriches.

    • 4/5
      Even on a shipwrecked island, you can't really ride an ostrich. Also, how many houses does one family need? Just a fun, wild read.
    • 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
    • 1/5
      About as exciting as reading the user manual for a vacuum cleaner. Either way, you're constantly thinking to yourself, 'Well, this sucks.'
    • 3/5
      This mostly just annoyed me that I'd chosen to read it over its basis, Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. I blame Disney World."But in reality, the more there was to do the better. I never ceased contriving fresh improvements, being fully aware of the importance of constant employment as a means of strengthening and maintaining the health of mind and body. This, indeed, with a consciousness of continual progress toward a desirable end, is found to constitute the main element of happiness."^The moral of Wyss's story, with which I agree, but am incapable of appreciating in such a fantastically providential manner. I think I've always been too old for this amount of good fortune.
    • 4/5
      Good over all story but the book drags in places and children have trouble relating to the characters.
    • 5/5
      I love this book!!!
    • 5/5
      Moralizing tone and all, this was still probably my favorite book growing up. I literally wore a copy out by reading it too much. And now I'm reading it to my daughters (admittedly with some commentary to explain some...incongruous elements, i.e. penguins and flamingos living on an island with water buffalo and at least one anaconda).
    • 3/5
      Copied from the 'description' page regarding this book: "Swept off course by a raging storm, a Swiss pastor, his wife, and their four young sons are shipwrecked on an uncharted tropical island. Thus begins the classic story of survival and adventure that has fired the imaginations of readers since it first appeared in 1812. With optimism and boundless enthusiasm, the Robinson family undertakes the extraordinary task of constructing a home for themselves and exploring the primitive island filled with strange and beautiful creatures and exotic fruits and plants."I liked the story line and the family, but at times the story dealt too much on the animals, their origin, the plants and their uses, etc.. Although the movie I watched of this story did not stick very close to this book, I liked it better.
    • 3/5
      Fun reading.
    • 3/5
      The main story is quite good, I found the digressions informative but tedious. The book might be a compendium of scientific knowledge of the early nineteenth century. Which gives an interesting viewpoint into the world of that era.
    • 1/5
      Misogynistic drivel.Father knows all. About everything. Animals, plants, trees; how to build, cook, grow, and make things he remembers reading about in some book some time ago. Mother cooks, and cleans, and is incredibly strong and clever for someone who needs so much protection. Boys are clever and kill everything in sight.When I was a kid my brother had a beautiful illustrated edition of this book. (I had Pinocchio.) I read mine, and I wanted to read his books soooo badly. These editions were beautiful, full color, thick paper. And he would not let me. And my parents backed him up, it was his book. I was willing to let him read Pinocchio. He didn't want to. He didn't read his volume either. It just sat there, making me angry. I loved the Little House books, I so wanted to read this beautiful book about the stranded family! Why didn't my mother just tell me it was drivel?(Read on Serial Reader.)
    • 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!
    • 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
      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
      A little dated, but always a classic.
    • 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
      The Swiss Family Robinson, first published in 1812, is considered a staple of children's adventure fiction. Somehow I must have missed it growing up, and unfortunately it wasn't the fun read I was expecting. It was—dare I admit it?—rather boring. I was expecting adventure; what I got was a list of inventions and how they were invented. After awhile I grew tired of the descriptions of plants and their uses, the narrator's random useful knowledge and ingenuity, the details of every innovation, the management of their various homes and outposts, etc. And where, oh where are the pirates?This is, of course, one of the more successful imitators of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and it's fun to think of Johann Wyss's children gathering around him to listen to the adventures of the Swiss Robinsons. And it did inspire the old Disney movie, which is an utterly ridiculous and lovable film. I appreciated Wyss's deliberate inclusion of moral lessons, though I might approach things a bit differently than the narrator with my own children. Despite the general fact-reporting style of the narrative, there are a few humorous bits, like this wry observation:I constructed a couple of hen-coops, too, for the hens and their little chicks which we had brought from Woodlands, for I knew that if I left them unprotected, the inquisitive dispositions of Knips and Fangs might induce them to make anatomical experiments which would be detrimental to welfare of the youngsters. (300)The edition I read from Puffin is the most popular English translation by W. H. G. Kingston, and I didn't find it particularly well done. Misplaced modifiers, comma splices, and other such failings are the order of the day. I found this copy secondhand and it has its own little history, I think. The inside cover is inscribed to "Zoë" from "Papa" for Christmas 2004. I can't help but imagine some fond grandfather giving his granddaughter a book he loved and hoping that she would enjoy it just as he had. Well, it's a paperback and didn't show any signs of ever having been read when I bought it. I hope Papa never found out. Though I can't say I really blame Zoë, either. Disappointing.
    • 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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 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
      The Robinson Family, are shipwrecked on a tropical island for over 10 years. They survive because the father knows NEARLY everything related to science, botany, animal husbandry, farming, carpentry, parenting, marriage, and more, and because they managed to salvage most of the useful items from the ship, i.e. lanterns, silverware, dishes, tools, wood, barrels, books, as well as the animals on board.They explore the island, find plenty of plants and trees that can be used, and begin building a number of homesteads as well as defense barriers. They hunt to eat, but also capture native animals to tame and use for heavier work. They plant and harvest, repair and improve, and beautify until the island truly is New Switzerland. Because this was written in the early 1800's specifically for BOYS, the tone is old-fashioned and sexist; the book is filled with moral lessons on co-operating, independence, responsibility, respect for elders, physical prowess belief in G-d, and knowledge of the environment. Surprisingly not boring; the Robinsons navigate from one adventure to the next, celebrate their successes, and love and care for each other.
    • 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..
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.