Explores the habits and behavior of thirteen northwoods animals by discussing the various tracks and signs left by them.

Introduces the letters of the alphabet in woodcut illustrations and brief text depicting the changing seasons in the northern woods.

"The story of a forest "lost" by a surveying error-and all the flora and fauna to be found there A forest, of course, doesn't need a map to know where to grow. But people need a map to find it. And in 1882 when surveyors set out to map a part of Minnesota, they got confused, or tired and cold (it was November), and somehow mapped a great swath of ancient trees as a lake. For more than seventy-five years, the mistake stayed on the map, and the forest...

The miracle of Christmas permits the animals to work together as friends, despite their fear of the Great Wolf, and to rescue their beloved woodsman.