Not just more of Sam and Frightful!

On the Far Side of the Mountain 

by Jean Craighead George

Rarely do I find a sequel that at least equals if not exceeds my enjoyment for the original work, but On the Far Side of the Mountain does just that for me!

I am so very glad I read it! 

Don't get me wrong, I loved My Side of the Mountain, but this book was at least as good, and in some ways, I believe I liked it a bit better. 

But then, I do love a good mystery! 

And this sequel had that as well as 

the outdoor skills,  descriptions, wildlife, 

and "Mother Nature." 

George tackles some pretty intense 

and controversial issues in this book:

wild vs. domesticated animals, poaching, 

endangered species, theft, fraud, 

and the potential damage of technological advances. And, Sam not only shares "his" mountain with Alice, The Baron Weasel and Jessie Coon James, but others, too! Remember Bando, the University professor who discovered Sam and spent some of his vacation time with him, helping to build the stove, etc.? He has returned with a wife, Zella who is a lawyer, and they inhabit one of the original cabins--dirt floor, no indoor plumbing or electricity.
Zella would love to change at least that first item to a wooden floor! 

I love how Sam has actually learned the nuances of 'language' between himself and certain animals (Frightful, -the badger-, etc.) and also between the animals themselves! We all learn our world, whatever that is... Of Frightful,

When she flies, she is still a crossbow in the sky, and she still "waits on" above my head 
until I kick up a pheasant or a rabbit. 
Then she stoops, speeding toward her prey 
at two hundred miles an hour, the fastest animal on earth. She almost never misses.

"Hello, Frightful," I say.

"Creee, creee, creee, car-reet," she answers. That's her name for me, 
"Creee, creee, creee, car-reet." 
All peregrine falcons call the high-pitched crees, but when Frightful sees me in the morning or when I return from the forest, 
even when she is flying high above my head, she adds "car-reet."

"Hello, Sam," she is saying. (2)

Although Sam's whole family had invaded his mountain a mere three weeks ago, they quickly discovered why Sam's great-grandfather had abandoned this land, Sam's father was "not plowing soil...he was plowing rocks." Although his father leaves him a toolbox full of tools, Sam eschews them, 

Tools meant change to me, 
and I liked my home the way it was. 

I should have been proud and happy to know my parents had so much confidence in me that they would leave Alice in my charge, 
but the truth was that I was peeved. Alice is not your ordinary kid.

She can be wonderful company, but--she can also be Alice. (16)

Ha! I believe that to be true for all of us! We can just be...well...ourselves! And that isn't always pleasant for others, is it? :) However, neither is Sam an "ordinary kid," eh? :) For example, once Alice has permission to remain on the mountain with Sam, she states that she will now "finish my plumping mill." Sam ends up helping her and they have a 'machine' powered by water to grind acorns into flour! See, Alice is helpful! :) But then...the unthinkable happens...

Frightful is confiscated by a 'conservation officer' since she is an endangered species, and though Sam suspects this man might be a fake, he discovers there is indeed a conservation officer by the name of Leon Longbridge who just happens to be on duty in Delhi that day! Needless to say, Sam is heartbroken. Then he brainstorms ways he can hunt for food without his faithful falcon. He makes a sling to use with stones, though even after much practice, he is not very successful! Well, actually, not successful at all! When Sam, Bando, and Alice decide to build a millhouse, it becomes a 'community' project with Miss Turner from the library spending her vacation building the wall of rock, Mrs. Strawberry taps the stones, and Zella uses skills taught to her by her bricklaying  grandfather for fashioning the corners! Alice encouraged and enabled many changes to Sam's mountain though he worked to make them the least invasive to the natural environment and rhythms as possible. Again, as with the Little House series, it is so very interesting to 'see' how these simple machines are designed and built. As a culture/society, we have lost much of this initial more primitive knowledge as we create more and more complex technological advances, and I believe it is valuable for us to revisit these simpler processes. You never know when one of us might design something even better by understanding the basics in more detail! 

And then Sam discovers that Alice has not just been engrossed in yet another improvement project (she wanted to generate electricity next), but has actually left the mountain, per her note:

"Dear Sam,

I'm leaving. Don't worry about me. I'll be just fine thanks to all you have taught me.

Love, Alice" (56)

I back down the steps and pick up Jessie. I am feeling very sorry for myself. 

Frightful has been confiscated--and now Alice is gone. 

Even if we did argue a lot, she was good company. (57)

And then Sam hears a call, "Hall-oo, the tree!" and realizes Bando has arrived. Sam and Bando decide to track Alice and find her, since she "has a knack for getting into scrapes." They don't intend to disrupt her trip, but at least manage to "keep an eye on her" much as Bando did with Sam. As they hike through the countryside, Sam practices with his sling, missing "eighteen times out of twenty," thinking that's not too bad, since "a wolf pack misses its prey sixteen out of twenty tries." As they travel through the woods they realize they must not only "think like Alice," but also "think like a pig," since they know Alice took Crystal with her. Crystal lives on the mountain and it turns out that pigs are excellent at finding all kinds of food just underneath the soil, and can and will kill snakes, etc. It also makes Alice's early trail easy to track, as pig hooves tend to leave distinctive and deep prints to follow. Fortunately, Bando has the make orienteering maps that Alice has been using for her correspondence course, enabling them to map out Alice's directions. It was so very interesting to learn the various ways Alice and Sam had learned to leave "signs" along their trail for each other to "read." 

It is during all these travels that Bando and Sam learn of some criminals who plan to sell birds of prey to a representative of an Arab sheik. And guess who they discover in the process? One 'conservation officer,' Leon Longbridge! We also learn a bit of social/political history about this area, the Van Rensselaer's and Rent Wars, etc. However, foiling a criminal scheme is not the most important goal for Sam, as he continues on alone to search for Alice, whom he has decided came all this way to see the newborn goshawks. He has read just how vicious the goshawk parents can be protecting their nests and he literally runs the rest of the way, realizing that Alice could be in real danger! It turns out Alice had a plan all along to benefit Sam. Her intent is to provide him with a baby goshawk to train and replace Frightful, but Sam, in the meantime has learned much about birds of prey and their natural habits and habitat, and although he has missed Frightful dreadfully, he now realizes the benefit of allowing these birds to live in their own environment without the interference of humans... 

Though he appreciates Alice's well-intentioned efforts and loves Frightful, 

he now realizes the dangers to these species overall... 

And, yes, there is a scene at the very end of the book that had me crying... 

That Sam Gribley is one 'tough cookie' who has grown up a lot in the past year 

and has now learned to hunt successfully with a sling!

As with most skills, it took a lot of practice, 

but as Sam has managed to do in so many ways, 

he has finally mastered it!

This is such a great book! 

George is a master storyteller and Sam one of her best characters, I think!

If you've never read this, you should!

And if you know any young readers, they should give this one a try, too. 

It is a great follow-up/continuation of My Side of the Mountain!

This book will count toward the Classics Club's Women's Classic Literature Event 

(#ccwomenclassics/#ccbookreviews), 20 Books of Summer (2016), 

a Children's/Juvenile Literature read, and a Library Book.

Though obviously, this is a book I will definitely purchase for my grandkids!

This is how I envision

Jessie Coon James

and 

The Baron Weasel. 

These are neighbors 

I could enjoy! 

And now I am anxious to finish reading this trilogy with Frightful's Mountain!

And do not forget about that beautiful picture book, 

Frightful's Daughter Meets the Baron Weasel! 

At the mountain again...with the offspring!

Frightful's Daughter Meets the Baron Weasel

Written by Jean Craighead George

Illustrated by Danile San Souci

This is a gorgeous picture book telling the tale of 

Frightful's female offspring and the Baron Weasel 

from My Side of the Mountain. 

I had checked this out of the library and took it with me

to the last book club meeting so others could see it.

One of our members was fascinated by the "beautiful" 

(Her word, not mine.) illustrations and the story.

This is definitely one I will purchase for my grandchildren.

The illustrations are beautiful 

and I love the story.

Oksi, Frightful's daughter, has two eyases in the nest box

Sam had made. She and Falco, her partner and father

of the eyases must hunt alot to feed their two babies.

They are six weeks old and just about ready to fledge!

To fledge is to fly for the first time. 

Meanwhile, the Baron and Baroness have four little ones of their own to feed.

And baby birds are a delicacy to weasels! 

As you can imagine, this makes for some tense moments.

The Baron keeps trying to attack the ayeses, 

while Sam, Oksi, and Falco are 

determined to protect them 

until they can fly away!

As Sam says at one point, "...peace is sure hard to come by."

I have yet to read the two sequels 

to My Side of the Mountain-- 

On the Far Side of the Mountain 

and Frightful's Mountain.

Here is the book that started it all:

Have you ever read a Jean Craighead George book?

There are many and all that I have read have been excellent!

All three of my sons liked her books.

After having read H is for Hawk, 

I have learned much about these birds of prey! 

Though I've never been wild about birds overall, 

these books have been fascinating to read and learn!

Have you read any of these? 

Or any other books by Jean Craighead George?

One mountain, a huge old tree, one falcon, and...

My Side of the Mountain 

by Jean Craighead George

This is the cover of my book.
Or rather, my grandchildren's book!

Jean Craighead George was an amazing writer!

She is one the first authors I discovered 
writing historical fiction for children.

However, as an adult I still love reading her books!

This book will count toward Bex's Re-Readathon and #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks, and now I can pass it along to my grandchildren! I can't imagine not loving this book, 
if for nothing else, than the fact that one child actually does leave home and become self-sufficient, as so many have imagined doing, but for whatever reason, failed. 
Mainly because most of us managed to "run away" 
and be gone a total of 15-30 minutes. 

Or perhaps we even made it an hour or two. 
We definitely didn't hitchhike miles away and rough it on our ancestor's abandoned now-wild grown farmland! 
It was obvious to me when I opened this book I evidently picked it up at a yard sale many moons ago for my children!
(I had written my now-abandoned married name in it!) :)
Kinda cool that now their own children will have the benefit of it in their household. 

Sam Gribley announces his intention of running away and relocating to his Great-grandfather Gribley's farm in the Catskill Mountains. Sam and his four sisters, four brothers, and Mother and Father all lived in one apartment in New York City! Although that first night was scary and cold for him, he reminded himself of the crowded aspect of that small apartment that in memory now seemed so "bright and lighted and warm." All he started with was "a penknife, a ball of cord, an ax, and $40 saved from selling magazine subscriptions. (I remembered doing that as fundraisers for various school organizations!) He was smart enough to have also purchased some flint and steel with which to start fires, though that proved harder than he had imagined it might be. He remembered how his whole family had laughed when he announced his plan, and then the last trucker who gave him a lift and dropped him off at the edge of the woods laughed at him, too! He said, 

"You know, when I was your age I did the same thing. 

Only thing was, I was a farm boy and ran to the city, and you're a city boy running to the woods. 

I was scared of the city--do you think you'll be scared of the woods?"

"Heck, no!" I shouted loudly.

As I marched into the cool shadowy woods, I heard the driver call to me,

"I'll be back in the morning, if you want to ride home." (11)

As you might expect, that first night wasn't a total success, to say the least! Sam hadn't even considered how much colder it would be in the mountains...there was still frost on the ground! 

He was anxious to catch at least one fish since he had read that

By examining the contents of its stomach you can find what 

the other fish are eating or you can use the internal organs as bait. (13)

To be fair, Sam had been taught how to whittle and tie his own fish hooks and various other outdoor/survival skills by his father, and he had obviously read and researched quite a bit. However, as with most new things we attempt, there was still room for him to learn much from experience! :) After his first hook came apart, he tied another and caught a fish right away! 

I cleaned it like I had seen the man at the fish market do, examined its stomach, and found it empty. This horrified me. What I didn't know was that an empty stomach means the fish are hungry and will eat about anything. However, I thought at the time that I was a goner. (15) 

Oh, poor Sam! I had to laugh when I read this! A lesson learned 'the hard way' that first night, was that he had 'camped' on the wrong side of the mountain and the boulder, getting all the wind and cold air blowing right on him! 

I frantically ran around gathering firewood. This is about the only thing I did right 

from that moment until dawn, because I remembered that the driest wood in a forest 

is the dead limbs that are still on the trees, and I gathered an enormous pile of them. 

That pile must still be there, for I never got a fire going. (15-16)

Throughout that first night he "shivered and shook" and later could even admit he'd "cried a little tiny bit." Following a harrowing night involving almost no sleep, Sam's wandering during his first full day in the woods is fortuitous as he happens upon a house.

The owner and resident, Bill, takes him in, feeds him, lets him sleep, teaches him how to start a fire, and allows him to sleep in his house that night. He even tells Sam as he walks away the next morning that he'll leave the door open for him that night, if he wants shelter. But Sam is determined and after three more rides, arrives in Delhi, sleeps on the schoolhouse porch that night, then goes to the library to determine where his Great-grandfather's beech tree with Gribley carved on it might be. No one he had asked in town seemed to know. Miss Turner, the librarian, takes him into the library before it is technically open and gets the information he needs, even drawing him a map. 

Sam does locate what is left of his Great-grandfather's old homestead, locates a nearby stream, and sets up camp. Eventually, he discovers a huge old tree that has died out somewhat at the base, creating a 'cavern' of sorts, and decides to live in it. He must burn and hack much wood from the inside, but he finally makes it his own. While exploring one day he discovers a peregrine falcon in flight. He stays by the stream where he has a good view of the sky and eventually is able to track it back to its nest, climbing the face of a cliff up to the nest and is able to take one of the babies. He names her Frightful and she not only provides him with companionship but is also a consistent supplier of meat for him. Interestingly, Jean Craighead George did have personal experience with falcons. Having read H is for Hawk not too long ago, I already had some knowledge gleaned from that book, which was, as expected for an 'adult' book, much more detailed, thorough, and comprehensive. 

Now that's an old cover image!

As you might expect, living alone in a natural envrionment, Sam becomes  very attuned to the slightest noises and/or changes in the natural environment. While lying quietly on his back in a meadow one afternoon, he realizes he is hearing a repetitive noise: "Pip, pop, pop, pop." He wonders aloud, 

"Who's making that noise?"

I listened. "Pip, pop." I rolled over and stuck my face in the grass. Something gleamed beneath me, and in the fading light I could see an earthworm coming out of its hole. 

Nearby another one rose and there was a pop. 

Little bubbles of air snapped as these voiceless animals of the earth came to the surface. That got me to smiling.

I was glad to know this about earthworms. I don't know why, 

but this seemed like one of the nicest things I had learned in the woods--that earthworms, lowly, confined to the darkness of the earth, could make just a little stir in the world. (58)

I loved this bit of observation of one of the smallest animals and most elusive, except following a rain, when I have noticed them coming up through the ground, though it was never quiet enough for me to hear the accompanying noises. 

Sam is quite the smart person. His mother has taught him well about nutrition and the necessary nutrients to include in his diet. He starts feeling rather strange during the winter and realizes that he is probably experiencing the effects of a nutritional deficiency. He manages to get some deer from hunters who have shot them, are unable to locate them, and leave the woods without the animal, which has since wandered off and died of its wounds. At this point I must admit I questioned whether someone could skin and butcher a whole deer with nothing more than a penknife, but okay, I'll buy it...for now. :) I do realize that when you have no available options, you can sometimes make do with inferior equipment! I tell myself this is exactly what Sam did. It is while he is dressing out the deer that he realizes he is drawn to and craving the liver and immediately cooks and consumes it, and feels much better afterward. It is later that he realized he was lacking in vitamin C due to no fresh greens, fruits, etc., as he had been eating during the growing season. I also wondered if he might not have been somewhat anemic, too, since liver is so very iron-rich. But he learns that liver is an excellent source of vitamin C. He is amazed that basically his body knew what it needed. 

Amazingly, Sam makes a couple of friends in the woods, two hikers who stumble across him or vice versa, and finally a reporter who agrees to stay quiet if he can come stay with Sam for a week or so and experience this self-sufficient solitary lifestyle for himself. A game warden has also discovered his "camp," but Sam manages to avoid him for a night and two days, until he leaves. It is then that Sam realizes he needs to better camouflage his tree and the surrounding area, and does so. Then his father comes to visit around Christmas time, too. He is quite impressed with Sam's skills, determination, and perseverance. And the following spring he has a surprise when his father leads reporters and photographers into the woods to meet with and interview Sam. And...then tells Sam they have decided if he won't return to the city, they are bringing the family out to him in the woods! He has had lumber hauled in and commences to build a house for them all to live in. Not exactly what Sam had planned, but...he virtually has no choice! He is still a minor, after all! And they are his parents and must care for him until he is old enough to legally live on his own. 

It was fun to re-read this 50 years later! 

I could easily imagine why it had made such an impression upon me at 10 years of age! 

I had forgotten there are drawings of the various plants Sam collected and ate and 

diagrams for items Sam constructed: animal traps, his bed, a very small clay stove, etc.

And now I see she continued writing about Sam, making this a trilogy, with 

On the Far Side of the Mountain 

released in 1990 and 

Frightful's Mountain released in 1999.

George died in 2012 at 92 years of age. 

What a talent she had!

Oh, and, of course, I will be reading 

these next two books and 

purchasing them for my grandchildren, too!

And...I just discovered what is evidently

                                         a picture book:

 I can't wait to get my hands on this!!