My Side of the Mountain SparkNotes

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My Side of the Mountain Summary
What is the main idea of My Side of the Mountain?
What is the conclusion of My Side of the Mountain?
What happens in chapter 1 of My Side of the Mountain?
Why did Sam run away in My Side of the Mountain?

My Side of the Mountain Summary

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My Side of the Mountain is a beautifully written book by jean Craighead George that is about a teenage boy, Sam Gribley, who decides to run away from his home in New York City to live in the Catskill Mountains. The book is told both through the eyes of Sam and from various journal entries he writes during his time in the woods.

Sam begins his journey by leaving New York with nothing but a few simple implements and $40. During his first night in the woods he realizes that he is incredibly unprepared for a life outdoors and the next day he walks to the nearest town to find some books about wilderness survival. There he meets reoccurring character Ms. Turner, a librarian who helps Sam prepare to live in the woods.

Sam decides to make his home in a tree and painstakingly hollows out a huge hemlock. He learns how to create traps to capture food and discovers which plants are edible. As the plot moves forward, Sam gradually learns how to survive in the Catskills with the help of Frightful, a peregrine falcon he captured and trained to catch food for him. He becomes close friends with numerous animals including Frightful, Baron Weasel (a weasel who often creates trouble for him) and Jessie Coon James (a fat, lazy raccoon who befriends him).

Later in the book Sam's ingenuity shines as he creates a jacket, pants, moccasins, and fur-lined underwear from deer and rabbit fur, but he also realizes that he is getting lonely. He meets a college English teacher whom he calls Bando and they become fast friends for the summer. When the school year starts and Bando has to leave Sam is content but soon he starts to miss human contact again. He walks into town and is surprised to discover how much of an outsider he has become.

Towards the end of the novel Sam meets a boy named Matt and a rogue named Tom, and his dad comes to visit. Sam is incredibly happy and stays in his new home for the rest of the winter with success despite the isolation, but come spring he comes to the realization that he cannot live in the woods together. His dad returns with the rest of his family as well as reporters and photographers. As much as Sam wants to run away and continue living off the land, he knows that going back to society is the best thing for him to do so he accepts his fate.

Throughout the novel Sam learned about himself and grew from a rebellious boy into a grounded young man who was ready to rejoin the real world.

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Free Summary of My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

TheBestNotes Study Guide by Ray Mescallado
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&lt;/iframe&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class="row"&gt; &lt;div class="large-7 columns"&gt; &lt;ul class="contentsEntry"&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;h5&gt;Table of Contents&lt;/h5&gt;&lt;/li&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-02.html"&gt;Setting &lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-02.html"&gt;List of Characters&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-03.html"&gt;Conflict&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-03.html"&gt;Short Plot Summary (Synopsis)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-04.html"&gt;Themes &lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-04.html"&gt;Mood &lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-04.html"&gt;Jean Craighead - Biography&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-04.html"&gt;Literary &amp;amp; Historical Information&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;ul class="contentsEntry"&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;h5&gt;Chapter Summaries &amp;amp; Analysis&lt;/h5&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-06.html"&gt;Chapter 1 - I Hole Up in a Snowstorm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-06.html"&gt;Chapter 2 - I Get Started on This Venture&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-07.html"&gt;Chapter 3 - I Find Gribley's Farm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-07.html"&gt;Chapter 4 - I Find Many Useful Plants&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-07.html"&gt;Chapter 5 - The Old, Old Tree&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-08.html"&gt;Chapter 6 - I Meet One of My Own Kind and Have a Terrible Time Getting Away&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-08.html"&gt;Chapter 7 - The King's Provider&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-08.html"&gt;Chapter 8 - What I Did About the First Man Who Was After Me&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-09.html"&gt;Chapter 9 - The King's Provider &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-09.html"&gt;Chapter 10 - What I Did About the First Man Who Was After Me&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-09.html"&gt;Chapter 11 - I Learn to Season My Food&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-10.html"&gt;Chapter 12 - How a Door Came to Me&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-10.html"&gt;Chapter 13 - Frightful Learns Her ABC's&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-10.html"&gt;Chapter 14 - I Find a Real Live Man&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-11.html"&gt;Chapter 15 - The Autumn Provides Food and Loneliness&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-11.html"&gt;Chapter 16 - We All Learn About Halloween&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-11.html"&gt;Chapter 17 - I Find Out What to Do with Hunters&lt;/a&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-12.html"&gt;Chapter 18 - Trouble Begins&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-12.html"&gt;Chapter 19 - I Pile Up Wood and Go on with Winter&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-13.html"&gt;Chapter 20 - I Learn About Birds and People&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-13.html"&gt;Chapter 21 - I Have a Good Look at Winter and Find Spring in the Snow&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-14.html"&gt;Chapter 22 - The Spring in the Winter and the Beginning of My Story's End&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-14.html"&gt;Chapter 23 - I Cooperate with the Ending&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-14.html"&gt;Chapter 24 - The City Comes to Me&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;ul class="contentsEntry"&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;h5&gt;Overall Analysis&lt;/h5&gt;&lt;/li&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Character Analysis&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Plot Structure Analysis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Themes - Theme Analysis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Author's Style&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Rising Action&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Falling Action&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Point of View&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Foreshadowing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Irony&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Important Quotations/Quotes and Analysis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Symbolism/Motifs/Metaphors/Imagery/Symbols&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt; • &lt;a href="My-Side-Of-The-Mountain-15.html"&gt;Key Facts&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;ul class="contentsEntry"&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;h5&gt;Study Questions&lt;/h5&gt;&lt;/li&gt; 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What is the main idea of My Side of the Mountain?

Lesson Summary Interwoven in this story are the themes of solitude, survival, coming of age, and balance. Sam Gribley fulfills his dream of living on his own in the woods. In the course of learning about nature, he also learns a great deal about himself, and becomes a mature young man by the end of his adventure.

What is the conclusion of My Side of the Mountain?

Matt, Bando, and other friends begin making regular visits to Sam's camp, and Sam to realize that city life is flooding into the mountains. At the very end of the story, Mr. Gribley, Sam's father, brings Sam's entire family up into the Catskills to live permanently with Sam at the Gribley farm.

What happens in chapter 1 of My Side of the Mountain?

Chapter 1: In Which I Hole Up in a Snowstorm. The story of Sam Gribley's life in the Catskill Mountains begins with an excerpt from his journal about the first snowstorm he encounters while living alone in a hidden cave dug out of a tree.

Why did Sam run away in My Side of the Mountain?

Twelve-year-old Sam Gribley decides to run away from home in May 1959. He doesn't dislike his large family, but he dislikes his dependency on them, and he believes he can build a good life for himself in the Catskill Mountains.