I remembered loving this as a child, and thought my 8-year-old might enjoy it too. I was looking for something that didn't have wizards, dragons, or magical beings of any sort, which seems to be most of the popular kids' books at the moment. My son absolutely loved this book! He was fascinated by how inventive the main character Sam was, and really got into the day-to-day descriptions of how this city boy managed to live off the land, on his own, for a year. This book was published over 40 years ago, and it's hard to imagine how it would be received today if it were a new book, what with all the descriptions of hunting, tanning deerhide, training a wild falcon, etc -- not to mention the fact that the main character goes off on his own into the woods to live, and no adult tries to stop him! As an adult rereading it, I had to suspend my disbelief often. For my son, it was a fantastic adventure story about nature, survival, and independence. I'd recommend this highly to anyone with boys in the 8 - 12 age range.