Synopsis
Jean Craighead George returns to the Catskills for the third book in the beloved trilogy about a boy who grows up living off the land, and the peregrine partner who will never be far from his heart.
When Sam Gribley learns that it is illegal to harbor an endangered bird of prey, he makes the hardest decision of his life and lets Frightful, his trained peregrine falcon, fly free. But Frightful is not prepared to be a wild bird. She has never had to feed herself, nor does she know how to mate, brood chicks, or migrate in winter. And pulling on her, almost stronger than her will to be free, is a terrible longing for that one mountain among thousands, that one tree among millions--her home with Sam.
Can Frightful survive the many dangers that await her in the wild--especially such humanmade traps as the fatal electrical wires where she must not perch? Will she be able to raise a family of her own? Thanks to the remarkable insights of Jean Craighead George, an incomparably gifted nature writer, readers will be able to experience Frightful's suspenseful and triumphant coming-of-age through her own keen falcon eyes in a story that is destined to take its place among the classics of our time.
KLIATT
To quote KLIATT's January 2000 review of the hardcover edition: Frightful's Mountain takes up the story of the peregrine falcon that Sam in the original book raised, with Sam and his friends characters in it, but with Frightful the main focus. So many things happen to the young falcon: she is captured by unscrupulous men who plan to sell her to falconers in the Middle East; she is rescued by Sam's sister Alice; she learns to hunt with a stray dog named Mole, who substitutes for Sam in flushing out small game; she is almost electrocuted by a utility wire; she mates and tries to raise her babies on a bridge undergoing repair, threatening all of them; she migrates to the Galapagos Islands one winter and returns in the spring to Sam on his mountain to raise a new nest of young. Craighead George introduces us to the perils raptor birds face, even in the Catskills and other remote areas. She shows, with the use of children in the story who become environmental activists, how her readers could help the endangered birds. She introduces us to "bad guys": poachers, and uncaring bureaucrats. And 40 years later, she tells us more about the boy she created whom we all admire, Sam, who lived in the wilderness and survived in the original story. She shares her knowledge of the natural world with her readers once again, supplementing the story with line drawings that help us envision Frightful's world. This is a wonderful animal story, for readers who are interested in environmental issues, and for those who love learning about other species. (sequel to My Side of the Mountain and On the Far Side of the Mountain) KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high schoolstudents. 1999, Penguin Putnam/Puffin, 260p, illus, 20cm, 99-32932, $5.99. Ages 13 to 18. Reviewer: Claire Rosser; May 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 3)