My Side of the Mountain
Written by Jean Craighead George
Illustrated by Jean Craighead George
Reviewed by Elias C. (age 13)
In the book My Side of the Mountain illustrated and written by Jean George there was a boy named Sam Gribley. He is a young teenager who wants to run away and live free in the wilderness, which he does. Sam gets sick of living in a scrunched up apartment with ten people living there. Sam made a house out of a hemlock tree that was six feet in diameter. Sam burned out the inside to make it his house. He lived on any food he could find. He ate wild berries and fish. Sam captured a falcon and he named her Frightful. Frightful helped Sam hunt a lot.
I think Sam should have captured another falcon. I think that because Sam would have twice as much food and Frightful would have a friend. One day when Sam was hanging out a kid found Sam in the woods and he was nearly frozen to death. He came to the woods because he wanted to learn about the woods. I think the kid came to the woods because he was a newspaper reporter and was asked to get information. In the beginning there was a big snowstorm and Sam got trapped inside his house. He met a raccoon named Jessie James. One day newspaper reporters came to where Sam was and tried to get photographs of him. Sams' parents went there and Sam was so happy to see his family he was going to teach his brothers how to live like he lived. Sams' Mom told him they were going to move in and Sam was very astonished. Sams' Dad was going to build a house but Sam did not want him to. I think they should have lived in the tree like Sam did because Sam built the house with his bare hands and he wants his parents to appreciate it. Jean George wrote a very good book. It is a good book because it teaches people how to live in the wilderness.
I recommend this book to kids all over the world because it will teach them how to live out in the wilderness with little or nothing. Hopefully, if kids read this book they will get a chance to see what it is like to live out in the wilderness and have nothing but a 20 dollar bill and flint and steel. I loved the book and all the kids will too!!!