Books like My Side of the Mountain

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George reads as immersive, hopeful. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

What My Side of the Mountain is like to read

An earnest, first-person diary of a boy carving a life out of a hollow tree — episodic, hands-on, and quietly reflective, with a peregrine falcon and a weasel for company. The wonder is in the how-to detail as much as the solitude. Best for: middle-grade and up readers who love wilderness self-reliance and how-things-work detail.

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Scott O'Dell · 1960

A quiet, contemplative survival story told in Karana's calm first-person voice, where the deep loneliness of years alone on an island is as central as her practical ingenuity.

younger readerscomplete story

Call It Courage

Armstrong Sperry · 1940

A slim, mythic survival tale following a boy's solo voyage from shame to self-won courage — earnest and elemental rather than psychologically complex.

mildly eerieyounger readerscomplete story

Hatchet

Gary Paulsen · 2004

A stripped-down survival story told in short, urgent sentences and fragments that mirror Brian's mind under pressure — as much about a boy learning to see the world as it is about staying alive.

creepy, not goryYA

Julie of the Wolves

Jean Craighead George · 1972

An immersive survival story in which a 13-year-old girl caught between Iñupiaq tradition and modern life earns the trust of a wolf pack on the Alaskan tundra.

mildly eerieYAcomplete story

The Boxcar Children

Gertrude Chandler Warner · 1924

A gentle, cozy tale of four resourceful orphaned siblings making a home for themselves in an abandoned boxcar, full of small daily triumphs and warm togetherness.

younger readerscomplete story

A girl named Disaster

Nancy Farmer · 1996

A harrowing survival journey told through a young girl's resourcefulness and growing connection to ancestral spirits, blending physical peril with spiritual discovery.

creepy, not goryyounger readerscomplete story

Crabbe's journey

Bell, William · 1986

Both explore survival & nature

Washington Black

Esi Edugyan · 2018

A sweeping, often harrowing journey narrated by a boy moving from bondage into a strange, expansive world of invention and flight, blending intimate trauma with wide-scale adventure.

deep cut