This past October my girls and I read through the book “My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead George for our monthly homeschool book club. Afterwards we hosted all of the kids who participated in the club for our book discussion down by our barn. There were so many wonderful things that fell into place for hosting this event. I can’t wait to share all the details from our Epic “My Side of the Mountain” Book Club!
What is the story “My Side of the Mountain” about?
My Side of the Mountain is about young Sam Gribley, who decides to run away from his crowded New York City home to live alone in the Catskill Mountains. He sets out with a desire to survive in the wilderness using only his knowledge of nature and survival skills. Throughout his adventure, he learns valuable life lessons about independence, solitude, and the importance of befriending both humans and animals, particularly his pet peregrine falcon, Frightful, while he navigates a year of living in the wild!
Kids will learn so many useful lessons from the story such as survival skills, falcons, the history of salt, fire, forest animals, winter birds, Daniel Boone, vitamins, geography, blizzards, tree identification and more!
“My Side of the Mountain” Book Club Decor & Food Ideas
I decided to host this event behind our barn and kept things very simple as far as decor. Setting out a few natural items from the forest on display such as honeycombs, a real dried out turtle shell we had (mentioned in the book), snakeskin, some pinecones and faux fall leaves with an owl stuffed animal. I always love to let my kids design something on our big school blackboard. My daughter drew a scene from the book.
I wanted to do a picnic-style, “back-woods survival” breakfast theme in accordance with the book where Sam made his own “acorn pancakes”. The original plan was to have my husband come home early from work to teach all the kids on how to build a proper fire and then cook the johnnycakes over the open flame; however we had been having a serious drought with a huge fire ban that lasted for weeks, so we had to switch gears. I made them ahead of time, the day before. I asked for the families attending to bring simple snacks like: nuts, apples, berries, homemade jam to go along with the pancakes, and some herbal tea.
Acorn Johnnycakes
Instead of making the johnnycakes out of acorn flour like I was originally wanting to do, I realized not many people have eaten acorn products before so I was a teeny bit worried that if someone was allergic, it would probably be better to opt for using something more common like cornmeal instead! So that’s what I did.
I followed this recipe. I tripled it- I don’t think I’ve ever made so many pancakes at once in my life! They came out amazing and my family absolutely loved them, including my 1-year old!
My friend made a beautiful pecan pie, because – nuts! She’s actually made a pie for every book club we’ve done together so far. I’ve made her our official book club “pie lady“! I think she enjoys her title!
Book Discussion
My dear friend, the pie lady, led the discussion part of our meet-up. She did a fantastic job preparing a series of questions to get the kids digging more deeply into the story and the themes of the book together.
For some good questions you could ask at a My Side of the Mountain book discussion, click here!
Coloring Pages
As with some other book clubs we’ve hosted in the past, I wanted to provide some coloring pages to keep hands busy during the discussion time. I found these and thought they were cute. The kids enjoyed them!
My Side of the Mountain Book Discussion Presentations
At each book club meet-up, kids are invited to create and present any sort of project that has been inspired by the story. At this particular event, it included paintings, educational foraging displays, creative dioramas, clay animals, paper machete and lego scenes!
Epic “My Side of the Mountain” Book Discussion Falcon Presentation
By far the highlight of our gathering was having a falconer come and do a presentation for us! I have a friend I know who became a falconer. When brainstorming for this discussion, I make sure to reach out to him. I ask if he might consider coming over with his bird. He warns me that his bird is not very good around children, so he kindly recommends a friend of his over at Falconry Excursions.
Kids are T-H-R-I-L-L-E-D! He brings three birds with him: a peregrine falcon, hawk and an owl. Almost all of the children and adults are brave enough to have the owl perch upon their arms. Everyone also enjoys watching a few flight demonstrations.
We were so fortunate to be able to put something together and the falconer who comes is so awesome with all the kids! He explains everything so well to them and answers all of their many questions. Our group was really quite large and he makes sure each and every kid gets to hold the owl as many times as they like!
How do you get a falconer to come to an event?
If you have an interest in falconry or want to include a falconer in any event you host such as a book club, you can always reach out to your state or local Wildlife Management Agency for contact info on local falconers.
Book Club Craft
I did have a craft prepared for the kids but we actually never got around to it! They were going to make clay pots out of terra cotta clay. One of the characters named “Bando” made them in the story. This would be a fun activity idea if you are to host one of these.
What an amazing afternoon! I hope this post inspires you to read this book with your family and maybe even host your own Epic “My Side of the Mountain” Book Discussion! You can check out more of our other fun book clubs that we’ve hosted here on Fern right here!
Special thanks to Falconry Excursions for accommodating our homeschool group! You guys are the best!!!
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