47 pages • 1 hour read
Jean Craighead GeorgeFrightful's Mountain
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1999A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 17-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary: “Frightful Feels the Call to the Sky”
Frightful continues to provide food for Oksi, and eventually, a gust of wind helps Oksi take flight again. Just as Oksi is learning to fly, Bando comes to Sam’s mountain to announce the arrival of his baby daughter, whom he and Zella named Samantha. Sam is overwhelmed to have a “namesake” (214).
Meanwhile, Perry Knowlton works to hack Blue Bill and Screamer to freedom. He withholds food from them to encourage them to hunt. On the day that the children from Delhi visit Perry and the birds, a bald eagle attacks Blue Bill. While Perry nurses Blue Bill, Screamer takes flight and his first steps toward independence. Back on Sam’s mountain, Oksi also gains independence and has her first successful hunt. Frightful stays near her offspring and continues to return to Sam’s mountain at night. Blue Bill eventually strikes out on his own as well; although Screamer and Blue Bill were raised in part by Perry, they didn’t imprint on humans. Frightful, however, still feels torn between staying on Sam’s mountain and migrating as the weather changes. Sam wants Frightful to go south as she should and resolves not to feed her in an effort to force her to leave.
Chapter 18 Summary: “The Earth Calls Frightful”
Frightful uses the sun’s rays to get her bearings and starts to fly south. Sam is thankful to see she is following her instincts. Conservationist bird watchers on Hook Mountain see Frightful fly overhead and record her passage along with that of the other migrating birds of prey. As Frightful continues her journey, she is joined by Drum and other traveling birds. They navigate difficult weather and take shelter as best they can during a hurricane off Cape Hatteras. Eventually, Frightful reaches Florida, then Cuba, Belize, the Isthmus of Panama, and Chile. Drum stays on the Chilean coast, but Frightful continues flying, eventually reaching the Galapagos Islands. She finds a cave in which to live and spends her days enjoying the warmth, flying for fun, and gaining weight. In late December, the sun once again tells Frightful to migrate; she almost goes in the wrong direction, but an encounter with a hawk helps orient her north. Stopping at various islands for a few days at a time, Frightful reunites with Drum on the way and eventually returns to Sam’s mountain.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Destiny Is on Wing”
Drum continues flying north to the Adirondack Mountains. He will need to find a new mate this year, since his mate of last year died from the effects of the DDT insecticide. Molly spots Frightful in Delhi, and Chup is nearby, too. Frightful follows Chup to his cliff above the Schoharie River, but the location feels wrong to her, and she returns to the box on Sam’s mountain. This location doesn’t feel right to Chup as a nesting place, and he leaves for the Delhi Bridge. Sam and Alice arrive on the mountaintop discussing Mrs. Strawberry’s farm, which she wants to eventually give to the siblings. As Sam contemplates the idea of being a farmer, he hears Frightful’s call. Sam is overjoyed to see her again and notices Chup circling above the mountain. Frightful and Chup call back and forth to each other, and Frightful takes off and follows Chup to the cupola of the Delhi courthouse. This feels right to her, and it is where she and Chup will make their aerie. Back on the mountain, Oksi returns from her migration, lands on the box in which she was raised, and calls for a mate.
Chapters 17-19 Analysis
The novel’s final three chapters provide a wealth of information about the falcon life cycle, including a look at both wild and captivity-based starts in life. Perry Knowlton’s hacking of Blue Bill and Screamer provides a glimpse of the process from captivity, while Frightful simultaneously hacks Oksi to independence in the wild in a similar fashion. Blue Bill and Screamer illustrate how falcons can transition from captivity to the wild without deeply imprinting on humans. This suggests that valid techniques can help protect baby falcons reach adulthood and increase the numbers of this endangered species. George also returns to the issue of DDT as a reminder of the preventable threats falcons and other wildlife face from humans. The observers who gather to count the migrating falcons and other birds serve as an example of people wanting to take action to protect and preserve these birds.
Narrative descriptions of Frightful’s migration allow readers to fly alongside her by providing vivid details of the many places she stops on her journey south, the weather patterns she encounters, the foods she eats, and the wildlife she sees. George also calls attention to Frightful’s migrating instincts. Incorporating factual information in the story, George makes the science behind Frightful’s behavior engaging. Similarly, she describes the variety of wildlife in the Galapagos Islands in a way that may pique readers’ interests and inspire them to learn more. These details also convey Frightful’s character arc. In Chapter 5, Frightful doesn’t understand how to use sunlight to orient herself while migrating—but by Chapter 18, the narrator explains how she uses the rays of the sun to know which way to fly. This development signifies Frightful’s deepening reconnection with her natural instincts.
The novel’s resolution acknowledges both Frightful’s wild side and her attachment to humans. Sam’s mountain is no longer the right home for Frightful, although she still feels a connection to it. When she returns to Delhi, the courthouse cupola becomes her nesting spot with her mate, Chup. This location provides a nod to both her wild side and her closeness with Sam; she now lives independently of Sam but is still near to him and to people in general. Meanwhile, Oksi’s return to Sam’s mountain signals that Sam can still enjoy closeness with falcons. Oksi is fully wild and free, yet Sam gets to enjoy her presence at his home.
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By Jean Craighead George
