Chapter books (choose 2)

[Kathleen]

1

[Julie]

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George is a great book about perseverance and being able to live off the land independently. In her author's preface, Jean describes her life with a naturalist father, and how she learned to live off the land. She loves animals and when I present my author study of her, everyone will see all of the animal/nature books she has written. This story is set in New York mostly in the Catskill Mountains. The protagaonist, Sam, leaves the crowded city life (he has 10 brothers and sisters who live in a New York City apartment) in search of living alone away from the craziness of the city. He captures, nurtures, and trains a falcon who he names Frightful; as Sam's provider, Sam can now live comfortably in his tree as he creates his own private habitat. Through the deep winter of struggles and an unlikely friendship, Sam ends up thinking of his family and others. This story is touching, and the sequel's comments will be quite similar. My students love learning about being in the wild and raising animals. I'm using it as a read aloud and I've created a style show presentation from one of the chapters. Two thumbs way up for grades 3 - 9! (adapted of course)

[Julie]

On the Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George is the sequel to My Side of the Mountain. It starts off where the last novel ended where Sam's family came to "his" mountain to live with him and Sam's trained falcon, Frightful; however, they bring noise and many needs that Sam had ran away from in the first book when he left the city and came to the Catskill mountains of New York to live a quiet, independent life free from the hustle and bustle of New York City. It doesn't take long for the family to start wanting to put in electricity and build a house. Sam reasons with them that visiting is a better idea than living there. Alice, Sam's sister, stays with Sam under conditions the parents leave with Sam, who is unhappy about her living near him--at least at first. This story has a lot more action than Jean's first book. There's a great mystery surrounding Alice's whereabouts, and Sam and his friend, Bando, aim to find her, while Sam ends up losing his beloved bird Frightful to a Falconer. This story is amazing, my kids are really loving it; some have even teared up in parts because it's so poinant! A great read for elementary through junior high.