Reply #42: Well, in the book [View All]

Heidi's aunt never tries to sell her, and neither does Fraulein Rottenmeier.

Heidi's aunt leaves her with grandpa because she's taken a new job as a maid, and they won't let her bring Heidi. A couple of years later, after Heidi and Grandpa have bonded (he's scary only for a couple of days), the aunt comes back and says that people she knows in Frankfurt are looking for a companion for their daughter, who's in a wheelchair, and besides, it's time Heidi got some schooling.

Fraulein Rottenmeier is mean and snobbish, Clara thinks Heidi is a lot of fun, and Herr Sesemann is nice but disengaged from the household. Heidi is miserable, and stops eating and starts sleepwalking. The doctor says she has to go back home because she's dying of a broken heart.

She goes back to Switzerland but this time, she attends school in the village and teaches Peter the goatherd to read and becomes a favorite of his family by reading to his blind grandmother.

Clara comes to visit, and Fraulein Rottenmeier, who doesn't want to stay with "peasants" retreats to the village. Clara gets lots of good food and fresh air. Peter isjealous of Clara and decides that if her wheelchair is gone, she'll have to leave, so he rolls the wheelchair down the mountain. Instead, Clara learns to walk, just in time for her father's visit.

I read the book several times as a kid--it was one of my favorites, so no, I didn't like the Shirley Temple version either.