Heidi

Author: Johanna Spyri
Lexile measure: 960
Language:  there are some references to Heidi being "wrong in the head" and "stupid", though the implication is that she is not, also, there is also a lot of German vocabulary
Violence:  reference to the Alm Uncle having killed someone in the distant past, never actually confirmed
Big Kid Mature Topics:  multiculturalism, bitterness/forgiveness, Heidi is an orphan and also separated from her family to live as a companion to a rich girl, rich/poor, the rich girl is paralyzed
Illustrations: depends on the publisher--ours has both line drawings every few pages and occassional color pictures
Plot:  very complex (there are several major subplots)

My daughter says she has never read this all the way through even though it has been in our library for a long time.  I think it is because it is a little too complex for her to hold it all in her head all at once.  This is a really good book, but its just too complicated (with all the characters, subplots, and German vocabulary) for very small children.  I would probably not read it below a mature age 4 or 5 and then only as a read aloud.

(There are also many abridged versions of this book, including one from Chik-Fil-A.  This is in reference to the original English translation of the unabridged book.)