Jean Craighead George, a Newbery Medal-winning children's book author who made the Catskills wilderness famous in her 1959 book "My Side of the Mountain," died Tuesday at the age of 92.
In a recent obituary, New York Times writer Margalit Fox writes that the natural world was as much a part of George's everyday life as it was of her books:
In 1944 she married John George, an ornithologist, and settled into a domestic routine that included writing, motherhood and wildlife management. Over time, as she recounted in her memoir for children, “The Tarantula in My Purse” (1996), the household grew to include 173 pets, not counting cats and dogs.
Among them were a crow that gathered coins and deposited them in the rainspout of the local bank and an owl that adored taking showers in the family tub. (Overnight guests at the George home were met with a cautionary sign: “Please remove owl after showering.”)
Also in residence, for a brief, nervous time, was a “darling beaver,” as Ms. George later recounted, adding, “We didn’t keep him long because he cut down the furniture.”
A brief tribute on George's website reads simply:
Jean Craighead George
1919-2012
Thank you, Jean.
A few years ago, on the 50th anniversary of the publication of "My Side of the Mountain," Washington Post writer Steve Hendrix decided to pay homage to the book by taking a trip to the Delaware County woods where George's fictional protagonist, 13-year-old Sam Gribley, learned to fend for himself.
Along the way, Hendrix got some advice from George herself -- and found out that the book nearly didn't get published, for fear it would inspire children to run away from home.
The fear that Sam Gribley might be a bad role model for restless young readers almost kept "My Side" from ever being published. George said she got a call from an editor at E.P. Dutton soon after submitting the manuscript. The publisher, Elliott Macrae, loved the story, the editor said, but didn't want to sanction running away. No deal.
"I was devastated," she said. She sought relief where she always had: in the woods. A long walk in the forest behind her house provided some comfort, but not nearly as much as the message waiting for her at home. Macrae, having been reminded of his own love of the Adirondacks, had reversed himself.
Happily, for the several generations of children who grew up with George's story, the book was published, and remains a classic more than half a century later.
