- a boy named Sam leaves his city home and figures out how to survive (and thrive!) in the wilderness of the Catskills mountains
- wonderful for both nature and animal lovers (he even trains a bird of prey)
- language: heck x1, stupid x1, gosh x2, gee x4, golly x1, darn x1
- convo: pipe mentioned, Halloween mentioned
Type: chapter book
Ages: 8+
Author: Jean Craighead George
What child hasn’t imagined or pretended running away at some point? My statistics are purely anecdotal, but it seems like all of us have! Sam didn’t go the whole year without seeing humans; in fact, he made a few friends who increasingly visited him. But the majority of the book follows his solo activities–learning how to forage, hunt, cook, sew, battle the weather, interact with animals, etc.
Don’t expect the story to be precisely realistic–many of the events seem unlikely–just enjoy the story! Also, as someone who loves books, it was gratifying that a lot of his knowledge (at least initially) came from library books.
I’ve not read further into the series, but if I do one day, I’ll be sure to link it from this review. Let me know if you’re enjoying my book thoughts. 🙂