I’m sure like many of you, this book came into your world, like mine, through school requiring you to read it. I was never one to be told what to read throughout my time in school, but something about this one made me do just that. It was interesting, to say the least. I didn’t become aware it was apart of a trilogy until later years and because of that, I have chosen to only recommend the first one instead of all three.
The illustrations were educational, but I wouldn’t have told my teacher that. They taught me how to make many things, like hooks! I felt for the main character and his want to run away from home, it was something I had considered back in the day, but never actually attempted. I would’ve in no way survived the way the main character did. I had tried to read this to my own kiddo and he never seemed interested. He’s much like me in that way, he just likes what he likes.
This is one of my very few copies I kept from my childhood or sought out to gain again from my childhood it was just that powerful to me. I loved it then and still, love it now.
Synopsis:
“Should appeal to all rugged individualists who dream of escape to the forest.”—The New York Times Book Review
Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods—all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, forty dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever.
“An extraordinary book . . . It will be read year after year.”
—The Horn Book
The Official Website of L. Bachman 