Author: Jean Craighead George
Age Range: 9-12
Genre: Fiction, Adventure
I read this book when I was a child. Actually, I read it because my younger brother was reading it, and I figured since he said it was good, I should read it as well. And I loved it. I still re-read it when I'm at my parents' house as the story is one that is full of interesting ideas as well as a great story. It is the story of a young boy named Sam, who is tired of his urban life, so decides to go and live in the Catskills Mountains, using his wits, his knowledge, and his guts to survive. He lives in this fabulous tree and creates a life for himself in the woods. It is fun and exciting to see what he can do with the resources he has.
It is a great book for boys and girls alike, but it is a book that is unlike modern young adult literature, in that it is not filled with a lot of dialogue, a lot of action, or a lot of drama. It is really the thoughts and the plans of a young man who decides to live in a tree. I read it as a young person and just imagined what it would be like to live somewhere without parents and on my own, and it quickly made me think that I'd rather be at home with my family. It is slower paced compared to many of the books that I find kids reading now, but I think it is a wonderful book that should be read, even if the child may think it is boring.
The only possible "worry" spot in this book is the idea of just leaving home and going out on your own. Sam does it with his parents' blessing and his father even visits him at one point. I'm pretty sure that most kids wouldn't read that and immediately think about how to do it and execute on that, but perhaps it would allow them to stretch their imagination and think of a life without the modern conveniences to which they have grown so accustomed.
There is a trilogy, but I've not read the other two yet.
Second in the series
Final, told from the perspective of a bird
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