81 pages 2 hours read

Jean Craighead George

My Side of the Mountain

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1959

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapters 1-5

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary: “In Which I Hole Up in a Snowstorm”

During the middle of a snowstorm in early December, Sam Gribley sits inside his hollowed-out tree home in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Sam writes a journal entry about his adventure, which he says began eight months prior when he ran away from home to live off the land. He stays warm from a small fire he’s built inside the tree house; he stays well fed and healthy from eating nuts and berries, venison, fish, and small game, which Sam keeps a supply of inside the walls of the tree home.

A few days later the snowstorm ends, allowing Sam to leave his tree and explore the surrounding snowy forest. He admits to the reader that he felt scared but is now excited to have survived his first snowstorm. Sam also mentions that he has been preparing for winter since last May, when he first arrived in the mountains and learned how to build a fire, find plants, and catch animals and fish to eat.

Sam recalls the third day in December, when this snowstorm arrived: He describes the sky darkening, the temperature dropping, and the forest becoming quiet. Sam admits that these ominous conditions made him contemplate running back to his home in New York, where, in contrast, “a snowstorm always seemed very friendly” (8).

Related Titles

By Jean Craighead George

Study Guide

logo

Frightful's Mountain

Jean Craighead George

Frightful's Mountain

Jean Craighead George

Study Guide

logo

On the Far Side of the Mountain

Jean Craighead George

On the Far Side of the Mountain

Jean Craighead George