My Side of the Mountain 6-3

 My Side of the Mountain                        6-3

    My Side of the Mountain tells the story of Sam Gribley, who has decided to live in the woods with only his diary and a few animals for company. These include Frightful, the falcon that Sam has raised from a chick; a weasel that he calls The Baron; and Jessie C. James, a raccoon.
    It is September. Sam notices that The Baron Weasel's fur is turning white. He knows that winter will arrive soon. It will be cold and food will be hard to find. He makes some fur clothes to keep himself warm. He decides to build a clay fireplace to heat the hollowed-out tree he lives in. It takes days to get the fireplace to work right.
    By October, Sam begins to look for ripe walnut and hickory nuts to store for the winter. He needs to gather them quickly because the squirrels are also after them. Soon he has a storehouse filled with nuts. Next, he competes with the squirrels, raccoons, and a skunk for apples. The animals are fattening themselves up before their winter sleep.
    On Halloween night, Sam throws a party for his animal neighbors. The squirrels, foxes, raccoons, and opossums come for their treats of nuts, rabbit meat, apples, and crayfish. Sam has always been careful about not leaving food out. On this night, however, he forgets to protect the food he has been storing in his house. Sleeping outside, Sam wakes up to noises in his tree. The animals have found all his food! Now that he has invited all of the animals over, he doesn't know how to make them go away. He finally snarls and makes loud noises to frighten them. His guests leave. Halloween is over.