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    Swiss Family Robinson: Level 1
    Swiss Family Robinson: Level 1
    Swiss Family Robinson: Level 1
    Audiobook (abridged)27 minutes

    Swiss Family Robinson: Level 1

    Written by Johann David Wyss

    Narrated by Iman

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    This novel is about a family from Switzerland who become shipwrecked on a tropical island and are forced to become resourceful in order to survive and adapt to a solitary family life removed from general civilization.

    This classic novel has been carefully abridged and adapted into 10 easy-to-understand chapters.

    ©2008 EDCON Publishing Group, Inc. (P)2008 EDCON Publishing Group, Inc.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEDCON Publishing
    Release dateJul 1, 2011
    ISBN9780848113032
    Swiss Family Robinson: Level 1
    Author

    Johann David 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 Swiss Family Robinson

    3/5

    48 ratings28 reviews

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    • 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.
    • 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.

    • 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
      I love this book!!!
    • 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.
    • 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
    • 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).
    • 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.
    • 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.)
    • 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
      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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.'
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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
      Fun reading.
    • 4/5
      Good over all story but the book drags in places and children have trouble relating to the characters.
    • 3/5
      A little dated, but always a classic.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 2/5
      Maybe it's the translation but I tried to read this book (aloud) to my children and it bored us all unremittingly ...
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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).