My Side of the Mountain Trilogy by Jean Craighead George

I am reading this trilogy with my kids and its such an amazing adventure – for kids and adults alike. We have completed the 1st two books and are on the 3rd. It’s the journey of Sam Gribley who leaves home to live in the Catskill mountains for 1 year. My kids have been captivated by the stories from Sam and how he is able to sleep, eat, hunt and enjoy the wild and all through the journey he teaches us so much about nature.

I loved this quote: “Living with nature teaches you to give”.

It also has great little teaching moments. Here is one on a sun compass that we plan to build next week when we go camping. “ . . . I found a compass made by Alice. We make these when we travel to strange forests. To make one, you pound a stick in the ground and put a stone at the end of its shadow. That is west. After about an hour you put another stone on the end of the new position of the stick’s shadow. That is east. You draw an east-west line between the 2 stones, then North-South”.

The writing is beautiful as he describes the mountains. Here is quote in Book 2: “ . . .stretching out before us lie mountains, villages, rivers. The Adirondacks rise like a jagged blue cutout in the far distance, and off to the right Outlet Falls shoots out over the ledge and spins a white trail to the rocks below.”

Another one where you learn so much about these mountains and surroundings: “The Helderbergs are made up of layers of limestone and shale, through which underground streams and rivers have carved miles of caverns. Some near the surface have caved in, leaving gaping sink holes in the land. Others are walk-in caves. Theses are magnets and we explore each one we come upon. Deep in them we can hear the subterranean rivers rushing off through the netherworld, and our voices echo and re-echo through the walls.”

I highly recommend this book – it’s a wonderful experience especially when you read this with children.