One of the books I read this summer was called “My Side of the Mountain.” The book was about a 12 boy who ran away from home, in hopes of conquering his dream of living in forest. His parents had allowed him to do this, because they knew he would come home. They were wrong. This boy was very capable of his accomplishing his dream. He knew that he could live out in the Catskill Mountains alone. His name was Sam Gribley.

Sam Gribley lived in a crowded home in New York City with 4 brothers and 4 sisters. Altogether they are a family of 11 people, which was hard for Sam to handle.

“I LEFT NEW YORK IN MAY.”

“I had a penknife, a ball of cord, an ax, and $40, which I had saved from selling magazine subscriptions. I also had some flint and steel which I had bought at a Chinese store in the city. The man in the store had showed me how to use it. He had also given me a little purse to put it in, and some tinder to catch the sparks. He had told me that if I ran out of tinder, I should burn cloth, and use the charred ashes.

I thanked him and said, ‘This is the kind of thing I am not going to forget.’

I hitched rides into the Catskill Mountains. At about four o’clock a truck driver and I passed through a beautiful dark hemlock forest, and I said to him, ‘This is as far as I am going.’ He looked all around and said, ‘You live here?’ ‘No,’ I said. ‘I am running away from home.’”

In the beginning Sam had trouble finding how to build, and get, materials he needed to survive in the wilderness. Food was dreadful at first. Sam found a way to fish though. Later on, he figured out an easier way to catch prey. He climbed up a tree to get an eagle, so the falcon could catch their dinner. He named her Frightful.

As she grew Sam trained Frightful to fly up in the sky and catch near prey. He made her Jesses. And he also made a glove so Frightful could land on his arm without hurting him. He had to wait until she was older so she could fly though.

This book is AMAZING! It was written in 1969 by Jean Craighead George. The end is a bit disappointing though, at the same time it was sort of touching. I rate this book ! I would recommend it to people who like animals, nature, and little pop up surprise. The book dragged me in, 1. By Sam having hopes of accomplishing a dream that seemed nearly impossible to do on his own. 2. By the love for animals he had. And 3. For making inventions that I could make myself.