My Side of the Mountain
by Jean Craighead George
After running The Bridge to Terabithia as a Sticky Book last week, I decided there and then that the month of June would be a few books from my childhood. This week, we have My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.
I think every young boy has the dream of running away and living in some sort of fort or in the wilderness. I am sure it is the dream of plenty of young girls too. My Side of the Mountain took this dreamlike childhood adventure, added in a weasel that the young boy (Sam) befriends, and pet peregrine falcon because, you know, what boyhood dream wouldn’t include a peregrine falcon if it could.
I remembered enjoying this book so much as a child that after I graduated college a long time ago, (I’m not telling how long ago!), I saw it in the bookstore and decided to get it. I read the entire book that afternoon, as a young twenty-something. It’s a trilogy, but this first one is the heart and soul of the series.
“I am on my mountain in a tree home that people have passed without ever knowing that I am here. The house is a hemlock tree six feet in diameter, and must be as old as the mountain itself. I came upon it last summer and dug and burned it out until I made a snug cave in the tree that I now call home.”
“Be you writer or reader, it is very pleasant to run away in a book.” ]
“The human being, even in the midst of people, spends nine-tenths of this time alone with the private voices of his own head.”
“Fortunately, the sun has a wonderfully glorious habit of rising every morning”
“I must say this now about that first fire. It was magic. Out of dead tinder and grass and sticks came a live warm light. It cracked and snapped and smoked and filled the woods with brightness. It lighted the trees and made them warm and friendly. It stood tall and bright and held back the night.”
“Chicken is Good! It tastes like chicken.”
Sticky Books are those that you just can’t get out of your head. They stick with you long after you have put the book down and have moved on to something else. These are some of my Sticky Books. I don’t enjoy reviewing books myself. I find I am either full of far too much praise for the book because I know how difficult it can be to write a book, or I am far too negative about a book because, well, I guess I was just in a bad mood. So instead of reviews, I have pulled some of my favorite quotes from each Sticky Book.
Find more writing and publishing tips at Nothing Any Good.
