My Side of the Mountain: Week Three

This week marks our final week reading My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. This week, we read from In Which I Learn About Birds and People through the end! Next week, we start The City of Ember!

The Great Horned Owl: Sam sees a Great Horned Owl nesting on his side of the mountain, and he's just delighted. Here's a National Geographic page that will give you more information about Great Horned Owls (with a really cool first picture). Here's a video from youtube about the Great Horned Owl that takes you up close and shows you what the owl looks like. It also gives you a good sense of the sounds the owl makes that Sam would have heard. 

What does the Great Horned Owl symbolize for Sam? What makes you think that? 

Winter and Spring in the Catskills: Can you imagine being outside in the woods all winter? This silent video gives you a little sense of what Sam might have seen when he peeked his head outside of his hemlock tree the first day of that major snow. 

Remember how delighted Sam was when the first greens of spring started to return? Here's a video that shows someone foraging for wild greens. Here, they've found wild onion!

Questions to Ponder/Answer:

1. Frightful finally joins in Sam's forum and contributes her own thoughts. She says, "You really want to be found, or you would not have told Matt all you did." Why does Frightful join in and say this? Why does Sam wish she would stay quiet? 

2. There are  many characters in books who run away, both literally (actually running away) and figuratively (avoiding problems, etc.). Think about Sam. What did he run away from? What other characters have you encountered who run away from their problems? Think about Hope from The Memory Bank. Think about Groovy from The Year The Swallows Came Early. Consider Harvey Swick from The Thief of Always. How are these characters similar to or different from Sam? 

3. Near the end of the book, Sam, Bando and Matt start building guest houses near Sam's hollowed out hemlock tree. Think about his quote: "I seem to have an address now." What do these guesthouses symbolize for Sam? 

4. What did you think about the ending of My Side of the Mountain? Did it seem realistic? Surprising? 

If you loved My Side of the Mountain, keep it alive! Here are some fun activities you could do and some other books in the series you could read!

Visit Jean Craighead George's website to learn about the other books in the My Side of the Mountain series and the hundreds of other books she's written. Here's a link to the other books in the trilogy. Let us know if you decided to read any of them! Maybe someone will want to form a book club with you and read the other books!

Go outside to somewhere natural. Really experience it. Take it in silently. What do you see? What do you hear? If you listen really closely, like Sam did, you might even hear the plip-plop of worms pushing up through the soil. 

Bando brings so many newspaper articles to share with Sam that were written about him. Try writing one of those articles out, imagining how the reporter might have captured the story. If you write one out, post it here or email it to me so I can post it!

Take a song Sam sung, like his Cold Water Song. How did the song go? Write the lyrics for it! Perform if for your family, friends or other members of our book club. Post the lyrics here so we can enjoy them!