My Side of the Mountain Trilogy (My Side of the Mountain / On the Far Side of the Mountain / Frightful's Mountain) [Hardcover]

Jean Craighead George (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

In 1959, Jean Craighead George published My Side of the Mountain. This coming-of-age story about a boy and his falcon went on to win a Newbery Honor, and for the past forty years has enthralled and entertained generations of would-be Sam Gribleys. The two books that followed--On the Far Side of the Mountain and Frightful's Mountain--were equally extraordinary. Now all three books are available in one deluxe yet affordable volume for veteran devotees and brand-new fans alike.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Asked why the writing of the My Side of the Mountain trilogy took Jean Craighead George more than 40 years, she responds, "My mother disapproved of sequels. 'Those are trashy books,' she told me when I was a child. So I grew up and did not write them.

"But kids are wiser than adults, I learned. Letters kept arriving from schools and homes, saying, 'We want to know more about Sam, Frightful, and the wilderness.' 'Sequels,' they said, 'are important.' They were right."

Now, all three of George's remarkable novels about the wilderness adventures of young Sam Gribley and his falcon, Frightful, are available in one handsome volume. In My Side of the Mountain, a Newbery Honor Book, Sam leaves home to fend for himself in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. For a year he lives in a hollowed-out tree, befriending animals and depending on his wits for survival. In the sequel, On the Far Side of the Mountain, Sam's sister has now joined him, and his falcon is confiscated by a conservation officer. Frightful's Mountain is an interesting departure for George. Written from the perspective of Frightful the falcon, the concluding novel in the trilogy follows her efforts to learn to depend on her own instincts in a world crawling with dangers.

Jean Craighead George is the beloved author of more than 80 books, including the Newbery Medal winner, Julie of the Wolves. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 628 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (October 23, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525462694
• ISBN-13: 978-0525462699
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Story Collections

More About the Author

Jean Craighead George was born in a family of naturalists. Her father, mother, brothers, aunts and uncles were students of nature. On weekends they camped in the woods near their Washington, D.C. home, climbed trees to study owls, gathered edible plants and made fish hooks from twigs. Her first pet was a turkey vulture. In third grade she began writing and hasn't stopped yet. She has written over 100 books.Her book, Julie of the Wolves won the prestigious Newbery Medal, the American Library Association's award for the most distinguished contribution to literature for children, l973. My Side of the Mountain, the story of a boy and a falcon surviving on a mountain together, was a 1960 Newbery Honor Book. She has also received 20 other awards.She attended Penn State University graduating with a degree in Science and Literature. In the 1940s she was a reporter for The Washington Post and a member of the White House Press Corps. After her children were born she returned to her love of nature and brought owls, robins, mink, sea gulls, tarantulas - 173 wild animals into their home and backyard. These became characters in her books and, although always free to go, they would stay with the family until the sun changed their behavior and they migrated or went off to seek partners of their own kind.When her children, Twig, Craig and Luke, were old enough to carry their own backpacks, they all went to the animals. They climbed mountains, canoed rivers, hiked deserts. Her children learned about nature and Jean came home and to write books. Craig and Luke are now environmental scientists and Twig writes children's books, too.One summer Jean learned that the wolves were friendly, lived in a well-run society and communicated with each other in wolf talk -- sound, sight, posture, scent and coloration. Excited to learn more, she took Luke and went to the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory in Barrow, Alaska, where scientists were studying this remarkable animal. She even talked to the wolves in their own language. With that Julie of the Wolves was born. A little girl walking on the vast lonesome tundra outside Barrow, and a magnificent alpha male wolf, leader of a pack in Denali National Park were the inspiration for the characters in the book. Years later, after many requests from her readers, she wrote the sequels, Julie and Julie's Wolf Pack.She is still traveling and coming home to write. In the last decade she has added two beautiful new dimensions to her words beautiful full-color picture book art by Wendell Minor and others and - music. Jean is collaborating with award-winning composer, Chris Kubie to bring the sounds of nature to her words.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three wonderful stories together in one stunning volume, February 6, 2001

By 

Isabel Harding (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Side of the Mountain Trilogy (My Side of the Mountain / On the Far Side of the Mountain / Frightful's Mountain) (Hardcover)

Jean Craighead George's MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN is, quite simply, a masterpiece of children's literature. Almost half a century after its original publication, it is now available in this gorgeous hardcover edition, along with its two stunning sequels, ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN and FRIGHTFUL'S MOUNTAIN. Wendell Minor, illustrator of two of Ms. George's classic JULIE OF THE WOLVES books and many splendid picture books, has done the cover, and Ms. George herself did the fine line drawings for the three books. However, the true beauty of the volume lies with the words that grace its pages. In the first book, Sam is a young teenager who is tired of living in his crowded New York City apartment and steals away to the Catskill Mountains to live in seclusion among nature. There, he burns out a tree to make it his cozy home, learns about wild foods and how to find them, and captures a young peregrine falcon, Frightful, to train to hunt for him. The first book was written in the past tense from Sam's point of view, and is filled with details and entries from Sam's journal. Ms. George manages, in her usual way, to tell about and inspire readers about nature, without sentimentalizing it, and to develop young characters without underestimating them. The journal entries are written just as a kid would write them, in simple, yet interesting text. In fact, many readers have been led to believe that a thirteen-year-old boy actually did write the book. MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN won a Newbery Honor (later Ms. George was to be awarded a Newbery Medal for her truly magnificent JULIE OF THE WOLVES). The second book, ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, is written, even more effectively, in the present tense, as Sam finds his way into more exciting adventures. He still enjoys a life in the mountains--but he is no longer alone, as his sister, Alice, has joined him. This book is written more realistically and in a more modern settting. For example, peregrine falcons are an endangered species, and Frightful must be confiscated by a conservation officer. However, Sam isn't so sure that he really is a legal government worker, and, along with his friend Bando, he takes off to find his beloved feathered friend. At about the same time, Alice disappears, and Sam must find two of the things that mean the most to him. The ending is very exciting, but the sequel never loses the charming, easygoing coziness of its predecessor. In the third book, FRIGHTFUL'S MOUNTAIN, Sam is forced to let Frightful free, as it is illegal to own an endangered species. Frightful, having lived nearly her whole life and depended almost entirely on humans for her survival, faces many challenges in her life in the wild. There are natural dangers--other birds of prey, hurricanes--but the book's basic story relies on Frightful's increasing conflicts with humans. Telephone wires cause an eletrocution threat, DDT poison weakens eggs, and Frightful faces a harrowing few days trying to raise young on a New York bridge. The result of all three books has changed my way of looking at the world. I have started a journal, I dream of living away from the strange world of humankind, I want to try dandelion salad and acorn pancakes, and I constantly watch the skies for peregrine falcons soaring above (there is only one nesting pair in Georgia this year but I am paying attention to conservation efforts to help Frightful and her kind). With this beautiful special edition of three incredible books, I look forward to sharing the story of Sam Gribley and Frightful with my own children someday.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book, April 3, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: My Side of the Mountain Trilogy (My Side of the Mountain / On the Far Side of the Mountain / Frightful's Mountain) (Hardcover)

My Side Of The Mountain is a great book for all ages. If you're thinking of running away definitely take this book with you. If you're want an adventurous book this is a book for you. This book tells you what foods to eat how to make the food and how to train wild animals. This is the kind of book that you probaly won't put down until you're finished with it. So you should read this book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Young Boy's Walden, December 13, 2006

By 

T. H. Scherman "TS" (Wilmette, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Side of the Mountain Trilogy (My Side of the Mountain / On the Far Side of the Mountain / Frightful's Mountain) (Hardcover)

Granted, there are still some places like the one imagined by Craighead in My Side of the Mountain, and there are some boys and girls out there who still explore in the woods, some parents who allow their kids to spend the night out there, but this book, like Thoreau's, is much more important for kids (and parents) who have no real wilderness in their lives. Unlike so many young persons' books these days, which try so hard to help readers through difficult times (divorce, peer-pressure, death of loved ones) in predictable, heavy-handed ways, the premise of this book is not dramatic. The young narrator is just tired of the city (not in any committed political way), and more importantly tired of living in a large family in a small space. When he says he's going to run away to find the spot where his grandfather once had a farm in the mountains, his family ignores him--his father dares him to do it, and he takes the dare. Granted, there's a bit of drama here and there (his capture and training of the young falcon is more than improbable), but mostly the book is content to chronicle the boy's slow growth--not from some tenderfoot to a fully capable survivor (the story of "Hatchet")--but from a boy who knows something about nature from books to a boy who figures out, through his experience of nature, something new about himself and his relation to other people and the world. Here Craighead is above all PATIENT--able to chronicle the pace of a life that puts into question much of what kids and their parents might consider "normal" interests, or attachments, or social behavior. The best experience of this book won't drive kids to try their hand at survival in the woods (though that wouldn't be such a bad thing for many)--rather, it will show young boys and girls that there are other ways of seeing nature and the world than those they see on the Nature channel. The second in this series, The Other Side of the Mountain, is different--more of a detective story in the woods--but equally a good read.