general

My Side of the Mountain was a great book. I enjoyed it a lot. The book is about a boy named Sam Gribley who ran away from his home because his house was too crowded and his dad thought Sam would run away for one night. Sam runs away to the Catskill mountains and builds himself a hemlock tree. Sam steals a small falcon who trains it and names it Frightful. Sam visites Delhi, a place in New York, and some of his new friends visites Sam. The Baron Weasel companies him in the summer. Sam lives in the Catskills for 9 months. I think Sam is very adventurous and brave. I recommend this book to my age group 11 and 12 year olds. Read this book to find out to what happends to Sam and Frightful!

I just re-read this book for the first time since childhood as a project for a Children's Literature class and the things that made me love this book as a child came leaping off the pages to meet me. George inserts visual and humorous quirks into the animals who share Sam's home with him, without injecting them with the unrealistic ability to speak. These animals speak volumes in their actions and habits.

This book does contain some curious themes for children, such as a boy running away from home, several adult characters who know that Sam has run away but just decide to help him hide, and a father who comes to see his son just before the onset of winter in the Catskills, but doesn't force him to come home with him.

However, George's intricate details (recipes, drawings, etc..) and varying narration (slipping between diary form to storytelling) add a realism that can't help but spark the imagination and feed that part of a little boy's soul that yearns for independence and self-sufficience.

A great book for children who don't necessarily like to read. What's cooler than a falcon for a pet? Nothing.

Running away from home and living in the wilderness may be the dream for millions of teenage boys, but the reality of 'pulling it off' couldn't possibly be as easy as the author of this book makes it appear.

Everything Sam wants to accomplish in his tree home away from civilization, he does. He may fail once or twice, but then it all works out: He successfully hunts for food, creates flavorful recipes for grand suppers (which he shows off to visitors), sews his own winter clothes from deer hides and rabbit furs...it's all very, very simple! GET REAL! From the incredible anti-authoritarian parents, who let Sam go on his quest in the first place, to the rediculous 'dragged in by the hair' ending, this book was a disappointment. I'm a 4th grade school teacher, and this book was not on any of my students' favorites list!

My only reason for giving 2 points rather than only 1 to this Newbery Award Winner (? )is the fact that this novel does give lots of useful instruction on 'how to' cook, keep water from seeping through home-made vessels, and to entertain oneself when there is no company around.**