It’s not just that I liked Heidi … it’s that I loved this Heidi, as you can tell by the wear and tear on the spine. It’s another Wonder Book, which preceded the Golden Books. Even today, I have a deep affection for the illustrations. I see the illustrator was Steffie Lerch, which I never knew until now. We had some distant relatives named Lerch.

A couple of months ago, the Shirley Temple film was on TCM and I was about to change the channel, thinking my husband wouldn’t be interested. But he wanted to watch – he said he’d never seen it before. I’ve seen it many times and would happily watch again. I especially like Jean Hersholt as Grandfather. But the Wonder Book version is nearest and dearest to my heart.

I also have a copy of the full novel that was my father’s. His favorite book was Hans Brinker, hands down. But he took the time to illustrate the inside cover of Heidi. He was always a good artist and I don’t think he was all that old when he drew this, if you judge by the printing. I certainly couldn’t do that well today!

When I got to see the snow-topped Alps on a 1 day visit to Zurich en route to Greece, I thought of Heidi and the pleasure her story has always given me.