Rami Saad

Book Review #2

Period 4

14 December 2016

The Sign of the Beaver

Elizabeth George Speare

Historical Fiction

135 pages

Newbery Honor Book

            The novel, The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare is about a boy named Matt, who has finished building a cabin with his father, for his family, in the woods in Maine. Now Matt’s father must go and bring the rest of his family back to the cabin. Matt is slightly frantic living alone. One day a stranger comes to Matt, and Matt being a polite person, invites him into the house, and serves him some food. Instead of thanking him, the stranger ends up stealing his rifle, and Matt can no longer hunt and can only eat fish. Matt wants something besides fish and decides to go get some honey from a bee hive. While trying to get the honey, Matt gets stung by bees, and escapes into a pond, but almost drowns. He gets saved by two American Indians, who gave him medicine, and brought him back to his cabin. The Indians were a grandfather name Saknis and his grandson Attean. They were from the beaver tribe. After Matt was healed the grandfather asked Matt if he could teach Attean how to read, and in return Attean would bring him food. Attean didn’t like the idea, and wasn’t very fond of Matt. Attean felt superior to Matt, but they would become closer for the days that would pass. Occasionally after Matt taught Attean, Attean would teach Matt how to make weapons and traps, and they would go hunting. First when Matt just learned the basics, they would go fishing and Matt learned how to make a fishing rod, but later on as time passed they encountered a bear, and with their teamwork they were able to kill it. Matt soon gained the trust of the Indian villagers and felt like one of them. The Indians would soon leave west because they were going on a big hunt, and they would not come back because there would be white settlers coming. Knowing this, the Indians asked Matt if he would like to come with them, because his family had not come yet. Even though Matt was scared that his family wouldn’t come, and something had happened to them, he couldn’t leave, if his family ever did come back, so Matt bid his farewell to his friend Attean. Waiting for his family, Matt saw a shadow through the forest, it was them!

            I thought The Sign of the Beaver, was a great book. I liked how at the beginning of the book, the two boys were not friends, and Attean didn’t want to learn with Matt. Towards the end of the book, Attean wanted Matt to come with him to the west, and was sad to leave his friend, which showed a growth between their relationships. Another thing I liked was how Matt benefited Attean by teaching him how to read, just how Attean taught Matt how to hunt. Matt asked, “how did you kill the Rabbit,” and Attean showed him how to make a trap, and he said, “Rabbit run into trap.” Something I disliked was how the Indians were not coming back because of the white settlers, Attean said “My people hunters. My grandfathers say many white men come soon. Cut down trees. Make house. Plant corn. Where my people hunt.” Something else I didn’t like was not finding out what happened to the man who stole Matt’s rifle, and why he did it. I wish Matt would have encountered him again throughout the book, or had another interaction with him. I thought the book had a great, but sad ending, because Matt was able to see his family who he had waited for, but he would probably never see his friend Attean again. I would recommend this book to readers because it shows how totally different people can learn and benefit from each other. Also readers would love the adventure and the hunts Matt and Attean went on. This was a great book and I think almost everyone would like it.