My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Published 1959 · 174 pages · 40,000 words · about 3 hours at an average pace · Coming-of-Age, Literary Fiction
How hard is My Side of the Mountain to read?
My Side of the Mountain scores 17 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 25 out of 100
- Naturalist vocabulary—specific plant, animal, and tree names. George uses precise ecological terminology that teaches as it describes.
- Sentence structure: 20 out of 100
- Journal-entry format with clear, descriptive sentences. George writes like a field naturalist—direct, observational, organized.
- Abstraction: 15 out of 100
- Concrete and practical throughout. Sam's reflections on solitude stay grounded in the physical tasks of survival.
- Information density: 30 out of 100
- Packed with practical wilderness knowledge—edible plants, tracking techniques, tool-making. Functions as both novel and field guide.
- Narrative indirection: 12 out of 100
- Straightforward journal-chronology following the seasons. No structural tricks or narrative misdirection.
- Symbolic density: 22 out of 100
- Frightful the falcon symbolizes wildness and the tension between domestication and freedom. The hemlock tree home represents self-sufficiency.
- Ironic distance: 80 out of 100
- Sam is earnest and wonder-struck. George writes the natural world with genuine reverence and no ironic distance.
- Resolution withholding: 15 out of 100
- Sam's family arrives, resolving the question of whether he can sustain total solitude. The ending is warm and definitive.
- Structural complexity: 15 out of 100
- Journal format organized by seasons. Occasional sketches and diagrams add visual texture. Simple linear structure.
How My Side of the Mountain is regarded
My Side of the Mountain holds a literary regard score of 68 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.