"The Sign of the Beaver" by Elizabeth George Speare

I remember loving this book as a youngster.  Anything to do with American Indian life has always fascinated me, and when you add that to a story about a kid living off the land on his own, and I was destined to be a fan.

Happily, this book totally lived up to my memories of its excellence.  I read it aloud to my kids this fall, and all three of them were enthralled.  I suspect they'll be rereading it themselves now.

Twelve-year-old Matt went out into the Maine wilderness with his father and built a cabin on land the family had just bought.  Together, he and his father also cleared a field and planted corn.  Then, his father leaves to fetch the rest of the family.  He says he'll be back in six or seven weeks. Long before harvest.  He leaves Matt a rifle and ammunition, food supplies, and his own father's pocket watch.  And he trusts this adolescent kid to guard the house, tend the crops, and survive.  Alone.

Which Matt does.  He makes mistakes, he has accidents, and he gets into some fairly dangerous situations.  But the chief of a nearby American Indian village makes a bargain with Matt: if Matt will teach the chief's grandson Attean to read English, the Indians will keep Matt supplied with fresh food and help him stay safe.  Attean teaches Matt how to find his way in the forest, how to hunt with a bow and arrows, and how to make many useful tools.  Matt tries to teach Attean to read.  Together, they both learn how to be better neighbors and friends.

My perspective on this story was a little different now that I'm a parent of half-grown kids myself.  I kept imagining what his father must have felt, leaving his twelve-year-old son alone in the middle of the wilderness to take care of the new cabin and the growing crops alone.  But, mostly, I got caught up in the adventure of the story and simply enjoyed it the way I did when I was a tween myself.

Particularly Good Bits:

Day after day Matt tramped the woods alone, trying to shake the doubts that walked beside him like his own shadow (p. 91).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some dangerous situations that would scare young children.