My side of the mountain (1975)
My side of the mountain is a 1975 supervivencia (accidentes de aviación, naufragios, etc.) book written by Jean Craighead George.
Sam Gribley is done with a crowded New York apartment and a family too big for it, so he walks off to old Gribley land in the Catskills to see if a boy can actually live off the woods. He hollows out a hemlock for a home, trains a young falcon he names Frightful, and keeps a plain diary of what works: which roots are edible, how to render fat, how to stay warm through a mountain winter. Jean Craighead George writes it as a practical field notebook with real skills on the page, warm but never sentimental, honest about hunger, loneliness, and the pull of other people.
Quick answers
What is My side of the mountain about?
Sam Gribley is done with a crowded New York apartment and a family too big for it, so he walks off to old Gribley land in the Catskills to see if a boy can actually live off the woods. He hollows out a hemlock for a home, trains a young falcon he names Frightful, and keeps a plain diary of what works: which roots are edible, how to render fat, how to stay warm through a mountain winter. Jean Craighead George writes it as a practical field notebook with real skills on the page, warm but never sentimental, honest about hunger, loneliness, and the pull of other people.
When was My side of the mountain published?
My side of the mountain was published in 1975.
Who made My side of the mountain?
My side of the mountain was written by Jean Craighead George.
Explore My side of the mountain guides
My side of the mountain in our writing
- Companion guide: Wilderness Survival
A few thoughts on My side of the mountain
Pair it with Gary Paulsen's survival fiction and the nature writing that shares its patient, hands-on attention to weather, animals, and self-reliance. Readers who like the falcon thread can move to Helen Macdonald's hawk memoir; those who want the same lone-in-the-wild pulse can try wilderness documentaries about people building shelter and foraging by season.
Coming-of-age novels about a kid striking out on their own
Sam Gribley walks off a crowded New York apartment to see whether a boy can feed and warm himself on old family land in the Catskills. These books follow the same solo stretch of growing up: a young narrator far from the people who used to decide things, learning to trust their own hands and judgment, and paying for it in loneliness as much as in pride.
Gentle young-adult stories that stay kind to their characters
Jean Craighead George writes Sam's year alone as warm but never soft, honest about hunger without punishing him for wanting a real life. These young-adult novels share that generous streak: they let their teenagers stumble, want things, and grow up without cruelty or easy tragedy, trusting small feelings and ordinary friendships to carry the story.
Growing up in a house that feels too full
Sam leaves partly because his family has grown too big for the apartment they all share. These stories stay with kids working out where they fit inside crowded, complicated households: siblings underfoot, parents pulled thin, and the quiet negotiation of wanting both closeness and a little room of your own.