Name: Sign of the Beaver
SKU: 9780547577111
Availability: InStock

Sign of the Beaver

$12.50

Newbery Honor Award Winner

When Matt’s father leaves him on his own to guard their new cabin in the wilderness, Matt is scared but determined to be brave and prove that he can take care of himself. And things are going fine until a white stranger steals his gun, leaving Matt defenseless and unable to hunt for his food.

Thankfully, Attean, a First Nations teen and his father, rescue him in the nick of time.

Perfect reader for Grades 3+

144 pages
Ages: 8-12

Description

When Matt’s father goes to fetch his mother and siblings from Quincy, Massachusetts, he leaves Matt alone on their new homestead in Maine.

Before long, Matt has met a few people, and forms a significant relationship with Attean, a Penobscot boy, and his grandfather. The grandfather’s original intent is for Matt to teach Attean to read, but before long it becomes clear that Attean is the teacher rather than Matt, and that without the input of Attean and his grandfather, Matt’s survival would have been much more precarious.

This book is set in 1768, at a time when Maine was still a “frontier.” Since this book was written in 1983 you will not find it updated with current names and terms. Even though this book is 35 years old, it is entirely appropriate for our present day. There is no glorifying Matt’s culture and there is no belittling of Attean’s. Rather, Speare clearly presents a people who have adapted to the harshness of their climate, and whose way of life is being gradually destroyed.