SuitabookMy Side of the Mountain
Jean Craighead George
- Reading
- Read alongside a conversation about practical skill versus romantic escape. Pause around hunting, trapping and food-gathering to discuss necessity, animal life and responsibility, while separating admiration for ingenuity from copying the behaviour.
- Themes
- Self-reliance and material simplicity: Sam leaves an overcrowded home and applies memory, observation and learned skills to support himself in the Catskills. The book presents this favourably.
- Living with and using wildlife: Sam catches or kills animals for food and clothing, fishes, and trains a falcon to catch small game. The practices are presented as functional survival activities and described without gore or sentiment; whether the book invites broader ethical reflection is not established.
- Learning through observation and practice: Sam studies at a public library and learns about shelter, fire, food, wildlife, fishing and trapping through observation and experience. The book treats curiosity, practical learning and careful observation as effective tools for meeting challenges.
- Worth knowing
- Prepare for matter-of-fact scenes involving trapping, shooting, skinning and cooking animals, along with fishing and hunting.