Vom This, der doch etwas wird

Erzählung

Johanna Spyri (1827-1901)

Approximate level: B1
Length: 10,394 words
Reading time: 52 min
Chapters: 4
Language: German
On Project Gutenberg since: 2006

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Johanna Spyri’s children’s story is set among the mountain pastures and scattered wooden houses of Switzerland. Its late nineteenth-century German uses concrete words for farm animals, buildings, and the landscape, alongside older spellings and forms that may slow you down. Most sentences are clear, but several are long, with clauses that explain how the hillside homes and pastures are arranged. The opening focuses on contrasts between neighboring households, while the story’s setting and themes of mountain life suit readers ready for detailed description.

292 downloads on Project Gutenberg

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Subjects

Mountain life -- Juvenile fiction
Switzerland -- Juvenile fiction

Questions about this book

What level of German do I need for this book?

The estimate is B1, based on how common the words are and how long the sentences run. It is an approximation, not a test result. With a translation under every sentence you can start one level earlier than you would with a paper copy.

Is this book really free?

Yes. The text is in the public domain and comes from Project Gutenberg, so it costs nothing. In Lingo7 you open the book and read the first page for free; a subscription unlocks the whole library, the audio and the word practice.

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How long does it take to read?

About 52 min at a native pace, spread over 4 chapters. In a foreign language plan for more: half an hour a day finishes a book of this size in a few weeks.