My Side of the Mountain

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George


Citation: George, Jean Craighead. My Side of the Mountain. Puffin Books, 2004.

Plot: 
Thirteen year old Sam Gribley decides to leave his home and survive in the wildnerness. Sam ventures into the Catskill mountains and must fend for himself, finding food and shelter. Sam takes a while to get everything figured out, but soon is living off the land and fending for himself. Sam has a few visitors, as people eventually begin to notice that there is a young boy living by himself in the mountains. Eventually Sam's worried family decides to do something such that the family can be reunited. Do they bring Sam home? Or do they bring themselves to Sam?

Review:

I absolutely adored this book when I read it with my class in the fifth grade. I loved the idea of having independence at such a young age. The survival aspect of the novel intrigued me, and I envied someone so close in age to myself being able to survive in the wilderness. As I re-read it, I was more concerned about some damn kid running around in the mountains without parental supervision. I kept waiting for a pedophile to jump out from behind a tree and then the novel would take a dark turn for the worst. I suppose now being an adult and a parent really colors thing, and I was a tad disturbed by the idea that some boy would read the book and decide to run out into the wilderness with a penknife. It might not be a bad idea to have some sort of disclaimer in the book. Just sayin'...

Age: 9 and up

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