My Side of the Mountain

In My Side of the Mountain, Sam Gribley brings minimal supplies from New York to the Catskills Mountains: a penknife, a ball of cord, an ax, flint, steel, and $40. Despite his limited preparation,...

Sam chose the big hemlock tree as his home because he wanted a place that was hidden from others to avoid being taken back to where he belonged. The tree offered a natural option that could be...

Sam Gribley uses acorn flour mixed with water to make pancakes, which become a staple of his diet while living in the Catskill Mountains. He first mentions eating acorn pancakes in the chapter "In...

In "My Side of the Mountain," Sam makes a fishhook, a shelter with a bed, and learns to start a fire. He crafts a fishhook by binding two whittled twigs together with green bark. For shelter, he...

Sam marked the hickory trees with an X on his map because they were a valuable resource. He planned to harvest hickory nuts in the fall for sustenance and use the limbs to make salt, which would help...

Miss Turner, the librarian in Delhi, is the only person at the beginning of the story who believes Sam can live alone. Unlike others, such as the truck driver, Sam's father, and "Bill something," who...

Sam's crucial realization in My Side of the Mountain is that he underestimated the difficulty of surviving winter alone. Despite his thorough preparations, he overlooked the emotional and physical...