My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Trade Paperback.  A Newbery Honor Book!

Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods--all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, forty dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever.

"An extraordinary book . . . It will be read year after year."
--The Horn Book

Should appeal to all rugged individualists who dream of escape to the forest.--The New York Times Book Review