= My_Side_of_the_Mountain =

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= My_Side_of_the_Mountain =
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Introduction
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'My Side of the Mountain' is a middle-grade adventure novel written
and illustrated by American writer Jean Craighead George published by
E. P. Dutton in 1959. It features a boy who learns courage,
independence, and the need for companionship while attempting to live
in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. In 1960, it was one of
three Newbery Medal Honor Books (runners-up) and, in 1969, it was
loosely adapted as a film of the same name. George continued the story
in print, decades later.

Plot summary
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Sam Gribley is a 12-year-old boy who intensely dislikes living in his
parents' cramped New York City apartment with his eight brothers and
sisters. He decides to run away to his great-grandfather's abandoned
farm in the Catskill Mountains to live in the wilderness. The novel
begins in the middle of Sam's story, with Sam huddled in his treehouse
home in the forest during a severe blizzard. Frightful, Sam's pet
peregrine falcon, and The Baron, a weasel, share the home with him. In
a flashback, Sam reminisces about how he came to be there.

Sam heard about his grandfather's abandoned farm near Delhi, New York,
and learned wilderness survival skills by reading a book at the New
York City Public Library. Sam's father permitted him to go to Delhi,
and, while he didn't think that Sam would survive, said that if he
made it, to tell someone in town. Unable at first to locate the farm,
Sam tries to survive on his own but finds his skills are not up to the
task. He meets Bill, a man living in a cabin in the woods, who teaches
him how to make a fire. Sam goes into town and is told where his
grandfather's land is by the librarian, Miss Turner. Sam finds the
farm but discovers the farmhouse is no longer standing.

Sam forages for edible plants and traps animals for food. He uses fire
to make the interior of a hollow tree bigger. Seeing a peregrine
falcon hunting for prey, Sam decides he wants a falcon as a hunting
bird. Sam goes to town and reads up on falconry at the local public
library. He steals a chick from a falcon's nest and names the bird
Frightful. Later, Sam hides in the woods for two days after a forest
ranger, spotting the smoke from Sam's cooking fire, comes to
investigate.

In the fall, Sam makes a box trap to catch animals to eat, and catches
a weasel. Sam calls the weasel The Baron for the regal way the animal
moves about. When a poacher illegally kills a deer, Sam steals the
carcass, smokes the meat, and tans the hides. Frightful proves to be
very good at hunting. Sam prepares for winter by hunting, preserving
wild grains and tubers, smoking fish and meat, and preparing storage
spaces in hollowed-out trunks of trees. Finding another poached deer,
Sam makes himself deerskin clothing to replace his worn-out clothes.
Sam notices a raccoon digging for mussels in the creek and learns how
to hunt for shellfish.

One day, Sam returns home and finds a man there. Believing the man is
a criminal, he nicknames him "Bando" (an alternative version of
"bandit"). The man is actually a professor of English literature and
is lost. Bando spends 10 days with Sam building a raft, fishing,
teaching him how to make jam, and showing him how to make a whistle
out of a willow branch. Bando makes plans to return at Christmas.

Sam makes a clay fireplace to keep his home warm. He steals two more
dead deer from local hunters to make more clothes, and begins rapidly
storing as many fruits and nuts as he can. He almost dies after he
insulates his home too well, trapping carbon monoxide inside. Sick
with carbon monoxide poisoning, Sam barely gets out alive. Sam returns
to town just before Christmas. He meets Tom Sidler, a teenager who
ridicules his appearance. Bando returns, bringing many newspaper
articles about the "wild boy" living in the forest. Sam is surprised
on Christmas Day by the arrival of his father. They are overjoyed to
see one another again. Sam learns how animals behave in winter, even
during blizzards. He overcomes a vitamin deficiency by eating the
right foods.

In the spring, Matt Spell, a local teenager who wants to be a
reporter, arrives at Sam's treehouse home. Sam doesn't want to be
interviewed, but offers Matt a deal: Matt can come live with him for a
week if Matt will not reveal his location. Matt agrees. A few weeks
later, Bando visits Sam and they build a guest house. Matt spends a
week with Sam, and at the end tells Sam he broke his promise. A short
time later, Tom Sidler visits the farm and Sam realizes he is
desperate for human companionship.

In June, Sam is surprised to find his family has come to the Gribley
land. His father announces that the family is moving there. Sam is
happy at first, then also upset because it means the end of his
self-sufficiency. As the novel ends, Sam concludes that life is about
balancing his desire to live off the land with his desire to be with
the people he loves.

Characters
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* Sam Gribley - a 12-year-old boy who leaves home to live in the
wilderness.
* Dad Gribley - Sam's father. He lets Sam leave home, believing Sam
will return after just a day or two. He is surprised at Sam's
independence and tenacity.
* Bill - the man that helped Sam to learn how to fish and make a fire.
* Mrs. Thomas Fielder - a 97-year-old woman who forces Sam to help her
pick strawberries for her famous jam, and betrays Sam by talking to
reporters about him.
* Miss Turner - a librarian at a public library in Delhi, New York who
befriends Sam.
* Frightful - Sam's peregrine falcon. Sam trains Frightful to hunt for
food that Sam can eat.
* Baron Weasel - a weasel that Sam accidentally traps.
* Bando - an English professor who is lost in the woods, and spends an
initial ten days with Sam. He becomes a father figure to Sam over the
next year.
* Jesse Coon James - a raccoon that Sam befriends. Sam learns how to
hunt for mussels by watching Jesse.
* Matt Spell - a teenage boy who writes for a local newspaper and
visits Sam. He writes about Sam in the newspaper. He pretends to be a
friend but betrays Sam by reporting on him in the newspaper.
* Aaron - a Jewish songwriter who visits the wilderness near Sam's
home to get inspiration.
* Tom Sidler - called "Mr. Jacket" by Sam, Tom is a boy who lives in
the village of Delhi, New York.
*Mom Gribley - Sam Gribley's Mother

Critical reception and impact
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'My Side of the Mountain' won critical plaudits upon its release.
Numerous reviewers praised the novel for its detailed depiction of the
wilderness and animals, its unsentimental treatment of animals and
nature, and its characters, their maturation, and development. 'The
New York Times' in 1959 gave the novel a solid review, calling it "a
delightful flight from civilization, written with real feeling for the
woods." Children's author Zena Sutherland, writing in her reference
work 'Children & Books' at the time, called Sam's development from
immature, impulsive child into a mature young adult "wholly
convincing". Ruth Hill Viguers, reviewing the book in 'The Horn Book
Magazine', concluded in 1959, "I believe it will be read year after
year, linking together many generations in a chain of well-remembered
joy and refreshment."

In addition to being named to the Newbery Award Honors list, the book
was also an American Library Association's Notable Book for 1959, was
placed on the Hans Christian Andersen Award 1959 honors list, was
given a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award citation (in 1965), and won the 1959
George G. Stone Center for Children's Books Award.

The book continued to be praised in the 1990s and 2000s. Book critic
Eden Ross Lipson included it in her 2000 list of the best children's
books, and said it "skillfully blends themes of nature, courage,
curiosity, and independence". Librarians and authors Janice DeLong and
Rachel Schwedt listed the book as one of a "core collection for small
libraries" of the contemporary fiction section. Author Charles
Wohlforth, writing in 2004, agreed that it was a classic of
contemporary children's literature. By 1998, the book had been
translated into numerous foreign languages, and visitors to the Cannon
Free Library in Delhi, New York, often asked to see the abandoned farm
where the novel was set. (The abandoned farm does not actually exist;
the Gribley farm is entirely fictional.)

The book has not always won uncritical praise. In 1999, reviewer Mary
Harris Russell noted that "the narrator, Sam, speaks with a tone more
measured than that of most teenagers. That tone grates on some
readers."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has cited 'My Side of the Mountain' with
inspiring him to become a falconer, which led him into a career in
environmental law and environmental activism. Television host and pet
advice author Marc Morrone and award-winning natural history author
Ken Lamberton also credit the book with generating their interest in
falconry.

Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed
the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". In 2012
it was ranked number 77 among all-time children's novels in a survey
published by 'School Library Journal'.

Adaptations
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A film adaptation directed by James B. Clark was released by Paramount
Pictures in 1969. The film 'My Side of the Mountain' is set in Toronto
and the Notre Dame Mountains, a Quebec province section of the
Appalachians, rather than in New York City and the Catskills.

Series
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A sequel written and illustrated by George was published in 1990, more
than three decades after the original. Over the next 16 years there
were three more sequels: a third novel illustrated by George and two
picture books illustrated by Daniel San Souci. All the sequels were
published by Dutton Children's Books, an imprint of Penguin Books
since its acquisition of the original publisher E. P. Dutton in 1986.

* 'My Side of the Mountain' (1959), illus. George
* 'On the Far Side of the Mountain' (1990), illus. George
* 'Frightful's Mountain' (1999), illus. George
* 'Frightful's Daughter' (2002), illus. Daniel San Souci, 32 pages
* 'Frightful's Daughter Meets the Baron Weasel' (2007), illus. San
Souci, 48 pp.

The three novels were issued in an omnibus edition that retains the
original pagination, about 600 pages in sum: 'My Side of the Mountain
Trilogy' (2000).

In 2009, Dutton published 'A Pocket Guide to the Outdoors: Based on
'My Side of the Mountain, by George and her daughter Twig C. George.
According to a library summary: "This guide to the outdoors provides
advice and instructions on camping, building shelters, finding water,
and cooking outdoors. Some activities may require adult supervision."
Inside responsibility credits John C. George and T. Luke George as
well.

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