[BWF] On the Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George just barely 3 stars but semi-rant inside

[Karin]

This is not as good as the first one, in my opinion, but not because the family went back. It's because it came out 31 years later and suddenly there are things completely anachronistic to the first book but it's supposed to be 2 years later. For me the first book was very much a 1950s book and setting for many reasons, in part because Sam was old enough to not be in school, and by the time the Endangered Species Act (plus other things more common by 1990 than 1959) was passed in 1969 kids had to stay in school until age 16 (in the 1950s it was still younger in many states if not all.) By 1990 the peregrine falcon population was rebounding which it started doing once DDT was banned in 1972 (at least it was banned then in Canada and the States--not all countries in the world have banned it.) To be fair, though, they weren't removed from the list until 1994, so that part was accurate when the book was written, but not when they could have gotten away with allowing a girl that young to live in the woods and attend school by correspondence.

Oh, you want to know about the story? Well, I wasn't as fond of the story in general even without those details. Plus, I kept thinking that most teenage girls are menstruating by 13 and how the smell of blood attracts black bears--I suspended my disbelief in the first book about storing smoked meat and not having bear around trying to get it, but this was too much for me. They are all over the woods with their territories and have excellent sense of smell and eat meat as well as fish, berries, etc. My dad has to keep his garbage in a bear-proof set up outside and can't take it out until the day of collection, etc. And more...

[NancyJ]

I got stalled in the middle of the first book. It started to remind me of too much of MacGuyver, and it lost the connection with the setting. Maybe it will be better when I get back to it. It also seemed odd that he didn’t seem to miss any of the people in his life yet, though he didn’t seem unusually uncomfortable around people.

[Jgrace]

I loved the first book as a child, but the second book ruined it for me. I was a middle child who just wanted to be left alone! The idea of escaping to the woods appealed to me. The last thing I would have wanted would be to have the family come after me.

Craighead George had a long career. By the time I was teaching, Julie of the Wolves was the popular middle grade survival book.

[Karin]

I haven't really watched MacGyver.

I was the eldest child who just wanted to be left alone, so I can relate to half of that!

[NancyJ]

It got better, so I’ll finish it soon. I was the eldest child who just wanted to be left alone to read too. I hooked up an extension cord, lamp and quilt, and made a hideaway up in the attic so I could read late at night without my sister giving me away. The attic was accessible from the ceiling in my closet. I must have had better upper arm strength then, to enable me to climb on a box and hoist myself up there.

[Karin]

NancyJ wrote: "It got better, so I’ll finish it soon. I was the eldest child who just wanted to be left alone to read too. I hooked up an extension cord, lamp and quilt, and made a hideaway up in the attic so I c..."

We never had attics; as I got older we had larger houses, but the next two siblings after me would decide they wanted to bug me and would seek me out when I was holed up somewhere reading or something. Children are so very mature ;)