I had the pleasure of reading My Side of the Mountain this past fall for an introductory science education class, and I fell in love with the world that Sam creates in the Catskill Mountains.

Sam Gribley, the thirteen year old hero, decides to run away from his cramped home in New York where he lives with eight siblings. He runs away to live a different life on land that his Great Grandfather Gribley owned in the Catskill Mountains 100 years prior.  Sam’s tenacity to make a life in the wilderness despite snickers and jests from adults is what is so attractive. Sam doesn’t let any bit of doubt or cynicism from others stop him. He figures out how to live off the land from prior knowledge, library research, from carefully observing animals and plants, and from friends along the way. 

I love Sam’s authentic willingness to share the life that he is manifesting with strangers he meets. One day, Sam struts into town proudly wearing his homemade deerskin outfit, complete with rabbit underwear and squirrel lined moccasins. He meets a boy (whom he refers to as Mr. Jacket) who skeptically sizes him up, calling him Daniel Boone. But Sam’s excitement for his rugged inventions shines through so he invites Mr. Jacket to come visit, “Come on up to the Gribley farm and I’ll show you what I’m doing. I’m doing research. Who knows when we’re all going to be blown to bits and need to know how to smoke venison” (p.110).

Sam’s open invitation to come see a different life, a different way of living, reminds me of two recent messages, from spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen and food lover Alice Waters. They each invite us to evaluate our lives and choose to live with clear intentions for the good of all creation.

I heard Andrew Cohen speak at a retreat this past October.  He is the founder of Evolutionary Enlightenment, a spiritual path that combines the absolute freedom of being with the human desire to evolve. At one point he said that some newcomers think his teachings are elitist because he asks that we consciously focus on living from the best part of ourselves at all times, which he calls the Authentic Self. But he said, raising out his hand, what I’m asking all of you is to, “Come join us!”

Similarly, Alice Waters is asking us to change what we eat and our relationship to food into one that values seasonal organic vegetables.  Her Edible Schoolyard project is centered on teaching children by affirming what to eat, instead of what to avoid.  This experiment is focused on bringing children “into a new set of values.”

Sam becomes quite the chef as he learns how to make salt from hickory sticks and flour from acorns which he toasts and grinds. He also learns how to forage for edible plants such as jack in the pulpit, fashion a fishhook from whittled sticks and string, train a falcon (which he names Frightful) to catch small game, and even hollow out a hole in the base of a huge Hemlock tree for his home. Here is where he stores his food, builds a fireplace, entertains guests, and watches the long, cold winter. 

He understands the importance of experimentation and when to do research first.  Therefore he takes occasional trips to the nearby town library where he befriends a librarian. She helps him find the whereabouts of the Gribley farm from old maps, letters, and local histories. She also cuts his hair so he’s less likely to be noticed by townspeople.

Sam learns from a variety of sources, and later reflects on the value of nutritional advice from his mother when he intuitively senses that he is lacking vitamins in late winter. He honors his body’s attraction to liver and eats his fill of rabbit that Frightful catches. In retrospect he notes that, “hunger is a funny thing. It has a kind of intelligence all its own…I am not surprised to find that liver is rich in vitamin C. So are citrus fruits and green vegetables, the foods I lacked ... As it turned out liver was the only available source of vitamin C—and on liver I stuffed, without knowing why” (p.143).

Towards the end of the year that he lives in the woods, Sam meets Matt Spell, an aspiring teenage reporter who is trying to find the “Wild Boy” that has been described in local newspapers. Sam doesn’t admit who he is, but acts like he’s met him. The two talk for a while, and Sam roasts a rabbit for them. Sam expresses his desire to create a different life when he tells Matt, “I ran away once because…well because I wanted to do something else.” His clear vision juxtaposes the victim-based reason that Matt shares, “…I ran away once because I thought how sorry everybody would be when I was gone” (p.155). 

The author, Jean Craighead George grew up learning about the animals and plants in the Potomac woods near her family’s home in Washington D.C. Her father was an entomologist and showed her and two older brothers all the wild animals and plants. She has written over 100 children’s books, inspiring several generations to study environmental science. I am amazed at the passion that she has continued to bring to children’s literature in her nearly ninety years of life.  Click here for an audio interview with her from 2007. 

I think Sam lives in all of us when we follow our inner greatness and pursue the inklings of a new way to live.  Have you read this book?  Please share something that you love from the book or how it has inspired you.