My Side of the Mountain parla di un adolescente di nome Sam Gibley. Stanco della vita di città in un appartamento sovraffollato, Sam decide di trovare la terra di famiglia in montagna e vivere da solo. L'avventura di Sam è fatta di coraggio, sopravvivenza e indipendenza.
One of Sam's traits is that he is very intelligent. One example of this is when he reads all about falcons and learns how to train Frightful. Training a wild bird is not an easy thing to do!
Sam is also very courageous. He decided he wanted to try living in the woods on his own. Even though he had no idea exactly what to expect, he did it anyway.
Sam used all of the resources around him in order to survive in the wilderness. One example is when he made salty flavoring by boiling hickory sticks.