num_pages: 177
description: Every kid thinks about running away at one point or another; few get farther than the end of the block. Young Sam Gribley gets to the end of the block and keeps going--all the way to the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. There he sets up house in a huge hollowed-out tree, with a falcon and a weasel for companions and his wits as his tool for survival. In a spellbinding, touching, funny account, Sam learns to live off the land, and grows up a little in the process. Blizzards, hunters, loneliness, and fear all battle to drive Sam back to city life. But his desire for freedom, independence, and adventure is stronger. No reader will be immune to the compulsion to go right out and start whittling fishhooks and befriending raccoons.  Jean Craighead George, author of more than 80 children's books, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves, created another prizewinner with My Side of the Mountain--a Newbery Honor Book, an ALA Notable Book, and a Hans Christian Andersen Award Honor Book. Astonishingly, she wrote its sequel, On the Far Side of the Mountain, 30 years later, and a decade after that penned the final book in the trilogy, Frightful's Mountain, told from the falcon's point of view. George has no doubt shaped generations of young readers with her outdoor adventures of the mind and spirit. (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter
language: English
title: My Side of the Mountain
titlecomplete: My Side of the Mountain (Mountain, #1)
characters: Sam Gribley
genres: Classics, Adventure, Nature, Childrens, Survival, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Animals, Fiction, Realistic Fiction
ratings_count: 75037
places: New York (State), Catskill Mountains, New York, New York City, New York
series: Mountain
awards: awardedAt: -315590400000
name: Newbery Medal, awardedAt: -157737600000
name: Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, awardedAt: -31507200000
name: George C. Stone Center for Children's Books Recognition of Merit Award, awardedAt: -283968000000
name: Vermont Golden Dome Book Award
publisher: Dutton/Penguin