This book was utterly up Kid Me's alley. I was that loner child who used to sneak off into the woods every afternoon to make my own bow and arrows. I'm that kid who once got a bunch of sticks smoking using nothing but forest stuff and a piece of string pulled from my school uniform tie. I'm that kid who read "kid survives in the wilderness" stories almost exclusively. And I loved this book. 
 My kid has been getting into the same spirit, so I figured it was time to share My Side with him. And he really loved it. The best part is that it's been great for getting him to come out on nature walks with me, and he's been really interested in how different plants can be used, what's edible, that sort of thing. I'm looking forward to camping season starting to see if he's more engaged there, too. 
 I have to admit, though, all the talk of running away made me rather nervous. I ran away all the time as a child, and I'm sure I worried my parents grey. But, blessedly, the idea never seems to have occurred to my child. Even when he's upset and totally hates me,he still stays close to home. It made me super nervous that this book was going to put the idea of running away from home into his head. So far, though, that seems to have been unfounded. We've talked about going into nature together, and made plans for camping together. For whatever reason, running away just doesn't seem as appealing to him as it did to me. Maybe he'll age into it. 
 As a story, I found that My Side dealt a lot more with Sam's contact with people than I remembered (I actually didn't remember these parts at all!), and less with the nitty-gritty of his survival. On the whole, though, I found that there was a good balance between the two. 
 I had also completely misremembered the ending - which I recall as being a traumatic ripping away from the mountain with police and such. I'm not sure why I remember it that way, or if I'm crossing memories of another book.The real ending, however, is much gentler. 
 This is a charming book with fairly good pacing. It's also great for teaching kids that they are resilient and capable of being useful, despite their small bodies. Some aspects of it are a little dated, but not nearly as much as I would have thought.