| The Sign of the Beaver | |
| Author: | Elizabeth George Speare |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Children's historical novel |
| Publisher: | Houghton Mifflin |
| Release Date: | February 1983 |
| Media Type: | Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio Book |
| Pages: | 135 |
| Isbn: | 0-395-33890-5 |
| Congress: | PZ7.S7376 Si 1983 |
| Oclc: | 9219453 |
The Sign of the Beaver is a children's historical novel by American author Elizabeth George Speare, which has won numerous literary awards. It was published in February 1983, and has become one of her most famous works.
The idea for this book came from a factual story that Elizabeth George Speare discovered in Milo, Maine[1] about a young boy who was left alone for a summer in the wilderness and was befriended by a Native American, named Attean, and his grandfather.[2] The novel has been adapted into a television film titled Keeping the Promise.
The Sign of the Beaver tells the story of 13-year-old Matthew James "Matt" Hallowell, an 18th-century American settler. He and his father build a log cabin in the wilderness of Maine, then Matt is left alone to guard the cabin and his family's claim to the land while his father heads back to Quincy, Massachusetts to pick up his mother, his sister, and the new baby and bring them back to the cabin. Matt learns how to survive and deal with difficult situations, getting help from Attean, a Native American boy, and his family. When Matt fears his father will not return, Attean asks him to join the Beaver tribe and move north.