Author: Jean Craighead George
Title: My Side of the Mountain
Rating: 4
Reviewer: TK Grade: 7
Review:
The book My Side of the Mountain is about a city boy named Sam Gribley who runs away from his apartment in New York city to live in the Catskill Mountains. He only has only a penknife, a ball of cord, an ax, $40, and some flint and steel, but he is able to survive.
The first chapter starts with Sam describing the blizzard. He lives in a hollowed out tree. He does not have to worry about food, because he can eat the food that he stored in a storehouse in the winter, and in the summer, he has a trained falcon which he named Frightful who hunts down wild animals to supply Sam with food.
After Sam describes his days out in the open, the second chapter begins, and it is about Sam's adventure to the woods. His parents do not believe that he is actually going to run away from home and live in the woods, but he does it. His first day in the woods starts with Sam making a fishing hook out of branches and fishing, then he makes a tent to sleep in, but he cannot make a fire.
The next day, Sam walks to the highway, but when he finds a house on a hill, he runs to it. The man in the house shows Sam how to make a propler fire, and the first chapter ends. The next day, he thanks the man, and goes out into town to ask the librarian where the Gribley farm is. He wants to live there because his grandfather owned it.
The librarian finds a map of Gribley farm, and she draws it onto a sheet of paper, then gives it to Sam. He walks back into the woods to find the farm, and he finds it. Then, he stops to make camp and makes his first fire. The next day, he looks at tall trees and has an idea to live in one of them.
The next chapters talk about his life in the woods. He also has to hide from many people so that they do not call him a wild boy and take him back to his family. Will he succeed? Read the book and find out.
9/3/04
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