Title: The Sign of the Beaver
Author: Elizabeth george Speare
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for young readers
Place and year of publication: New York, August 1984
Number of pages: 135
Where you found the book: The school library
Summary:
The book I read was called Sign of the Beaver and I was really attached to it while reading it. The book is about a story that takes place in the late 1760s in northeast coast of America. The main characters are Matt Hallowell, Matt’s father, Attean, and Saknis. The Book starts when Matt and his Dad are finished building a cabin near the beaver tribe territory. The dad leaves Matt with a gun, watch, and a cabin to take care of while Matt’s dad gets the rest of the family. A couple of days after Matt’s dad leaves, a stranger named Ben comes to Matt’s cabin and tries to make himself comfortable at the cabin, he was wandering down the forest and was heading towards the beaver tribe, but it was getting dark when he saw Matt’s cabin, he decided to knock, Matt opens for him and he enters, Matt then makes him food, Ben who was famished ate till he got stuffed and slept. Matt thought it was rude to wake him up, so he lets him stay. Next day Matt wakes up to find that his rifle was gone and he found no sign of Ben. Matt felt scared and miserable, like his guts were being ripped off, all what he could think of was without a gun there is no food.
Matt was tired of thinking of ways to look for food, one idea flashed, he remembered seeing a bee hive with his dad couple of weeks ago, so he was tempted to get honey and decides to climb the tree to get to the hive, unfortunately he gets stung and falls off. Lying on the floor with a blurry vision, all he notices was 2 strange figures helping him, one big figure and a small figure picking him up to the cabin and giving him medicine. He wakes up next day with an Indian chief in his cabin which is the guy who helped him pull out the bee stings. His name was saknis. Out of his deep gratitude Matt decides to give him a gift to show his respect, so he gives him a book which was one of the few things Matt had. After that Saknis asked Matt to teach his grandson Attean to speak English so when more English settlers come, he can communicate with them and make treaties. Attean then started coming everyday to learn English and he would bring food for matt such as a rabbit or a duck. A month later things reverse, it was now Attean's turn to teach Matt hunting and to pass to him some of the tribe secrets such as carving trail signs leading to the beaver tribe on trees, so if they are lost they can find their way back to the tribe.
Few weeks later, it was getting cooler, and winter signs started to show, Matt was expecting his family to come any time now. However, The bad news was that the Beaver Tribe were getting ready to move North as their usual before winter hits, this mean't that they will leave Matt’s Area. As both kids became best friends, Attean asked Matt to join the tribe as he called him now, the white brother. Matt was confused and did not know what to do because leaving with the tribe could mean that he should abandon his hopes of ever seeing his family, so he decided to stay and wait. Attean understands his decision and he assured him by saying that he would do the same. Attean then gives him his dog as a gift and Matt gives him a golden watch. Matt knew that he made the right decision when his family showed up a week later which during the time he had prepared the cabin for them and for his new baby brother or sister. As soon as they came he discovered that the baby did not survive the cold weather and died. Disappointed but happy for the return of his father and mother, he prepared a nice kitchen for his mom and every day, after their first meal, Matt would have a new story to tell his parents about his adventures with Attean and his life in the past months.
Christian Perspective:
In this book the main character struggles alot with finding food and he is always trying to figure
out a way to survive. He ends up with his Native American friend who helps him learn how to survive and brings him food. In this book I believe Matt was Christian because it talked about him having 2 books the bible and a fiction book. Matt decides not to give away the Bible because he knew its importance of it for himself. I realized that he acted like a Christian because he welcomed stranger into his home. He offered to help and teach Attean how to speak and read. Throughout the book there were many moments where he got frustrated but he controlled
himself, like how a Christian should. I also believe that he was a good Christian because he shared stories with Attean like Noah and the ark. If I was in Matt’s spot I would have taught Attean how to read and speak using the bible because he would the learn Christianity, they way of life. Overall Matt shows His Christian like behaviour because he does not lose hope in ever seeing his family and by welcoming people to his home and sharing his skills with others.
Your Thoughts:
The Sign of the Beaver was a very interesting book; it was so good that it won a Newberry Medal. The book was one of my favourites; it was probably my most liked book that I have read this year. This book has an extensive amount of details. I think the author put so many details that she made me use all my five senses, and it really showed me that we are all the same even if we have different cultures and religions, we all think the same and we all have same feelings and this was the main message of this book. In the beginning Matt and Attean both thought they had nothing in common, but they ended up calling each other brothers because that’s how much they had in common even with their different beliefs. I learned that we can always learn from anyone, no matter how different we are in all aspects and give second chances. This book is for the type of people interested in adventure and survival books.
Author: Elizabeth george Speare
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for young readers
Place and year of publication: New York, August 1984
Number of pages: 135
Where you found the book: The school library
Summary:
The book I read was called Sign of the Beaver and I was really attached to it while reading it. The book is about a story that takes place in the late 1760s in northeast coast of America. The main characters are Matt Hallowell, Matt’s father, Attean, and Saknis. The Book starts when Matt and his Dad are finished building a cabin near the beaver tribe territory. The dad leaves Matt with a gun, watch, and a cabin to take care of while Matt’s dad gets the rest of the family. A couple of days after Matt’s dad leaves, a stranger named Ben comes to Matt’s cabin and tries to make himself comfortable at the cabin, he was wandering down the forest and was heading towards the beaver tribe, but it was getting dark when he saw Matt’s cabin, he decided to knock, Matt opens for him and he enters, Matt then makes him food, Ben who was famished ate till he got stuffed and slept. Matt thought it was rude to wake him up, so he lets him stay. Next day Matt wakes up to find that his rifle was gone and he found no sign of Ben. Matt felt scared and miserable, like his guts were being ripped off, all what he could think of was without a gun there is no food.
Matt was tired of thinking of ways to look for food, one idea flashed, he remembered seeing a bee hive with his dad couple of weeks ago, so he was tempted to get honey and decides to climb the tree to get to the hive, unfortunately he gets stung and falls off. Lying on the floor with a blurry vision, all he notices was 2 strange figures helping him, one big figure and a small figure picking him up to the cabin and giving him medicine. He wakes up next day with an Indian chief in his cabin which is the guy who helped him pull out the bee stings. His name was saknis. Out of his deep gratitude Matt decides to give him a gift to show his respect, so he gives him a book which was one of the few things Matt had. After that Saknis asked Matt to teach his grandson Attean to speak English so when more English settlers come, he can communicate with them and make treaties. Attean then started coming everyday to learn English and he would bring food for matt such as a rabbit or a duck. A month later things reverse, it was now Attean's turn to teach Matt hunting and to pass to him some of the tribe secrets such as carving trail signs leading to the beaver tribe on trees, so if they are lost they can find their way back to the tribe.
Few weeks later, it was getting cooler, and winter signs started to show, Matt was expecting his family to come any time now. However, The bad news was that the Beaver Tribe were getting ready to move North as their usual before winter hits, this mean't that they will leave Matt’s Area. As both kids became best friends, Attean asked Matt to join the tribe as he called him now, the white brother. Matt was confused and did not know what to do because leaving with the tribe could mean that he should abandon his hopes of ever seeing his family, so he decided to stay and wait. Attean understands his decision and he assured him by saying that he would do the same. Attean then gives him his dog as a gift and Matt gives him a golden watch. Matt knew that he made the right decision when his family showed up a week later which during the time he had prepared the cabin for them and for his new baby brother or sister. As soon as they came he discovered that the baby did not survive the cold weather and died. Disappointed but happy for the return of his father and mother, he prepared a nice kitchen for his mom and every day, after their first meal, Matt would have a new story to tell his parents about his adventures with Attean and his life in the past months.
Christian Perspective:
In this book the main character struggles alot with finding food and he is always trying to figure
out a way to survive. He ends up with his Native American friend who helps him learn how to survive and brings him food. In this book I believe Matt was Christian because it talked about him having 2 books the bible and a fiction book. Matt decides not to give away the Bible because he knew its importance of it for himself. I realized that he acted like a Christian because he welcomed stranger into his home. He offered to help and teach Attean how to speak and read. Throughout the book there were many moments where he got frustrated but he controlled
himself, like how a Christian should. I also believe that he was a good Christian because he shared stories with Attean like Noah and the ark. If I was in Matt’s spot I would have taught Attean how to read and speak using the bible because he would the learn Christianity, they way of life. Overall Matt shows His Christian like behaviour because he does not lose hope in ever seeing his family and by welcoming people to his home and sharing his skills with others.
Your Thoughts:
The Sign of the Beaver was a very interesting book; it was so good that it won a Newberry Medal. The book was one of my favourites; it was probably my most liked book that I have read this year. This book has an extensive amount of details. I think the author put so many details that she made me use all my five senses, and it really showed me that we are all the same even if we have different cultures and religions, we all think the same and we all have same feelings and this was the main message of this book. In the beginning Matt and Attean both thought they had nothing in common, but they ended up calling each other brothers because that’s how much they had in common even with their different beliefs. I learned that we can always learn from anyone, no matter how different we are in all aspects and give second chances. This book is for the type of people interested in adventure and survival books.
Great book review Nayer. I like how you can see the theme the author is trying to portray through this novel. I agree that even though we may meet people who are very different than us, we can learn just as much from them, as we can teach them. We all have a lot to offer; we just have to be open to each other.
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