His father knows that Sam is headed towards a forgotten piece of family property in the Catskill Mountains. It is a story about a boy named Sam who runs away from home with his father's 'consent' and knowledge. That description, my friends, is pretty much what sums up My Side of the Mountain. My brothers were two of the first falconers in the United States and gave me a falcon to train when I was thirteen. We made lean-tos to sleep in, fished with our own homemade fish hooks and basswood fiber lines and trained falcons. He taught us the plants and animals, where to find wild asparagus and other edible plants.

When I was a kid, my father who was an entomologist and ecologist, took my brothers and me into the wilderness along the Potomac River near Washington, D. Let me tell you why I wrote My Side of the Mountain. (Can you tell that I am SO not an outdoorsy type of person based on that last sentence alone?) On George's website (which, btw, is the best author's website I have seen yet!) she answers a question about how My Side of the Mountain came to be. George herself is a nature lover and was raised in a camping/wilderness exploring family. Considering that intriguing twist, he agreed to publish it. My Side of the Mountain takes a different approach in having a young boy runaway from his home in the city to live in the wilderness. However, he changed his mind when presented with the idea that most 'runaway children' stories involved children leaving the country to explore the delights of the big city. Not to say that the book wasn't interesting (it was) - but the background was considerably more so.Īpparently the publisher initially did not want to take a risk with this book and refused to publish it. I also knew nothing about Jean Craighead George and, truth be told, I thought the introduction she gave at the beginning of this Puffin edition, about how this book came to be published, was way more interesting than the story itself. I know nothing of it's significance and/or the role it has played in YA fiction. Sure, I'd heard of it but I had never read it. I picked this book up on a complete whim one day. Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge (74).

Frightful's mountain book