1. Why do you think Sam is drawn so strongly to his great-grandfather's land?

Why is the land called "Gribley's Folly"?

Why don't his parents search for him and try to bring him home?

2. What does Sam do wrong on his first night in the wild? Why does he make these mistakes?

3. Where do you think Sam has learned how to survive in the wild?

4. Why does Sam say that fire is his weapon and that with fire he can "conquer the Catskills"?

5. What is the significance of the names—such as Jesse Coon James, The Baron, Frightful, and Barometer—that Sam gives to his pets?

6. Sam says, "Hunger is a funny thing.

It has a kind of intelligence all its own."

What does he mean? How does Sam discover that his diet is not providing him with balanced nutrition?

7. Sam calls the...