#35 in Middle grade
My Side of the Mountain
- 177
- Pages
- about 3 h
- Reading time
- Newbery Honor
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Our view
“My Side of the Mountain” is a classic adventure about a boy living alone in the wild, as rich in practical woodcraft as in the daydream of freedom. Jean Craighead George shows in detail how Sam finds food, water and shelter through the seasons, the hardest winter days included, and that concreteness makes the fantasy convincing. Some readers find the ending a letdown, and some find it odd how calmly the adults take his absence.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
My Side of the Mountain is a 1959 adventure novel written and illustrated by American writer Jean Craighead George. It features a boy who attempts to live in the Catskill Mountains after running away from home in New York City. The book earned a Newbery Honor in 1960 and, in 1969, it was loosely adapted as a film of the same name. The book was followed by two sequels.
Reading order · Mountain
Full order & progress →- My Side of the MountainThis book
8.18.1 / 10 - On the Far Side of the MountainOn the Far Side of the Mountain–Not ranked yet
- Frightful's MountainFrightful's Mountain–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.2 across 198 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 57% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Middle grade average of 8.0. That is how 8.1 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.3 | 44 | 22% |
| Hardcover | 8.1 | 154 | 78% |
Frequently asked
What age is My Side of the Mountain for?
My Side of the Mountain sits on the Middle grade shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 8–12. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 177 pages — shorter than 81% of the ranked books in Middle grade.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Middle grade — with scores between 7.7 and 8.6, closest to this book.
