I read this umpteen times, considered it alongside Hatchet and Island of the Blue Dolphins, and had an extremely well-developed fantasy about living off the land. Read most of Jean Craighead George. (view spoiler)[ I don't remember if it was the end of this book or later in the series that others came to do what Sam was doing, but I thought that was both inevitable and terribly sad. The author made a good metaphor here about "nothing gold can stay." (hide spoiler)]