My Side of the Mountain

Everyone, at some time, has wanted to run away to a place where life is natural and a person can find himself. In this saga a boy escapes from city madness and becomes a woodland survivor with the help of a falcon. His adventure is absorbing, touching, informative and completely credible. Woodman's grasp of teenage expressiveness conveys the intensity of a young person struggling to deal with the world around him. Even the boy's final, reluctant acceptance of human invasiveness captures the right note of a boy growing into a man. Woodman has turned a Newbery Honor book into a wonderful listening experience. S.B.S. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


How wonderful that this 1959 classic is now an audiobook. Narrator Michael Crouch introduces 17-year-old New York City resident Sam Gribley as he relocates to the Catskill Mountains with only a pocketknife, a rope, $40, and a fire starter. Crouch deftly embraces the speech patterns and vocabulary of the day, and warmly describes the atmospheric setting. Since Sam is usually alone, there's little dialogue, but his thoughts and endearing conversations with the wildlife he meets sound genuine. Listeners will particularly enjoy sharing time with Frightful, the young peregrine falcon Sam adopts, and trains to retrieve food. It's inspiring to hear how Sam adapts to nature and uses it to clothe, warm, and feed himself and his menagerie. Vivid descriptions of the seasons, storms, and animals offer a constant "you are there" feel. S.G.B. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine