Ha, I loved this book too and was also going to recommend My Side of the Mountain, but Kathryn Dillon beat me to it!

Did you know that San Miguel Island, which the book is based on was taken over by the military and used for bomb testing? Years ago, I went there on a sailboat and was surprised to learn that it was closed to the public and the day that I was anchored offshore, we could hear loud explosions all day long! I just checked to see if they still do that and I saw that the island was recently reopened to the public…although it’s probably closed now due to Corona…missionaries, bombs, pandemics…it’s always something, huh?