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My Side of the Mountain: Living in the Woods w/o Being There
Date of Review: Nov 12, 2000
I've always been fascinated with those books where people have to live on their own in the wilderness--sometimes they're forced to, or sometimes they have run away. Either way, the person amazingly has a knife in their possession, can eat almost anything, and is always very very smart.
My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George, is written as the journal of Sam Gribley, a boy who lives in New York City. He gets tired of the city and, on a whim, decides to run off to live on his great-grandfather's land in the Catskill Mountains, bringing only a knife, some cord, some flint and steel, and $40. When he tells his family about his plan, they laugh and let him go, expecting he'll be back in a day. Contrary to their expectations, he doesn't return.
In the woods, Sam needs to make his own hooks and traps in order to get food, along with finding various roots, berries, and nuts to eat. Needing a place to stay, Sam clears out the inside of an old tree and makes his home in there. Always conservative, Sam also uses the skins of the animals he kills to make clothing.
Like in most other "survive-alone-in-the-wild" stories, Sam has little contact with other people, except for a man he names Bando, but he steals a baby falcon from its nest. Naming it Frightful, he then trains it, and they become companions. Same also makes friends with many other animals he finds in the forest, such as The Baron Weasel, and Jessie Coon James.
Sam's "journal" is filled with many sketches of plants, traps and hooks that he makes, and people that he sees. All these drawings are done by Jean Craighead George herself, and they are a very nice touch.
An excellent part about My Side of the Mountain are all the details that are included in the story. There is a great deal of information about living in the wilderness, which gives you a feeling that George really knows what she's talking about.
The one thing I don't like about this book is the matter of Sam's parents. They let him go, thinking he would be back--I'm fine with that part. However, when he didn't come back, they didn't even try to go get him. They even knew where he was! This just always bothers me, that they let their son survive in the wilderness, especially during winter. Of course he manages a-ok, but still, that's bad.
My Side of the Mountain is a Newbery Honor book, along with an ALA notable book, and the winner of the Hans Christian Anderson International Award. For people that really liked My Side of the Mountain, I recommend reading On The Far Side of the Mountain, and Frightful's Mountain, which tells the story from Frightful's point of view.
