A city boy runs away to live alone in the mountains, with a penknife, some string and a falcon
A year alone in the wilderness
Sam Gribley is tired of his family's crowded New York City apartment, so he sets off for the Catskill Mountains and the land his great-grandfather once farmed. He brings only a penknife, a ball of cord, forty dollars and some flint and steel. Living in a hollow tree, he learns to find food, make clothes from deerskin and train a peregrine falcon he names Frightful.
Who will enjoy it
Young readers who dream of camping, survival and wild animals, and adults who loved the book as children.
What you will get
A timeless outdoor adventure full of practical wilderness detail, animal friends and the quiet satisfaction of becoming self-reliant in nature.
My Side of the Mountain Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Children’s Books · Wilderness survival · Nature · Independence
Length
208 pages · ≈ 6 h
More about this book
Sam narrates his story looking back on a year in the woods. Bored with city life in a large family, he reads up on edible plants at the library and heads north to the Catskills, to the old Gribley farm. His first attempts at fire and fishing are discouraging, but with help from a local librarian's books and plenty of trial and error, he learns quickly. He burns out the inside of a huge hemlock tree to make a home, complete with a bed and a small fireplace.
As the seasons change, Sam gathers nuts and roots, smokes fish and venison, tans deerskins for clothing and stores food for winter. He takes a young peregrine falcon from her nest and trains her to hunt, and she becomes his closest companion. A bold weasel he calls The Baron, raccoons, birds and other animals share his life. Occasionally people find him, including a friendly teacher lost in the woods whom Sam calls Bando, and rumors of a wild boy start to spread in nearby towns. Sam's journal-like entries and simple drawings show exactly how he survives.
Calm, detailed and inspiring. About 208 pages in paperback, followed by On the Far Side of the Mountain.
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