The Sign of the Beaver

Published in 1983, The Sign of the Beaver is a historical adventure novel for middle grade readers written by Elizabeth George Speare. Based on a true story that took place in 1760s Colonial America, the book follows the adventures of a young English boy who, while living alone in the Maine wilderness, befriends a local Penobscot boy who teaches him how to survive. The experience changes his views of himself, his family and fellow colonists, and Indigenous people.

The Sign of the Beaver won a Newbery Honor and was made into a film for television called Keeping the Promise in 1997. Overall, Speare’s work received two Newbery Medals and a Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (now the Children’s Literature Legacy Award).

Please note: The novel uses the term “Indian” to refer to Indigenous people. This study guide quotes the term “Indian” to follow the book’s terminology. This guide also uses “Indian” when included in certain names (e.g., The French and Indian War; Penobscot Indian Island Reservation).

This guide is based on the ebook version of the original 1983 edition.

Plot Summary

Twelve-year-old Matt Hallowell must guard a cabin in the forests of Maine for several weeks while his father goes to fetch the rest of their family. It’s the summer of 1768, and Matt finds he loves the solitude as he hunts for food with the rifle given to him by his father, does household chores, and listens to the sounds of animals around him.

One day, a scruffy man appears and asks for a meal. Matt obliges him, and the man, Ben, sleeps on the cabin floor that night. In the morning, Ben is gone, and Matt’s rifle is missing. Some days later, when returning from fishing, Matt finds that the cabin has been ransacked by a bear. Almost all the flour is gone, and there’s no more molasses or salt.

Hungry for something other than fish, Matt tries to steal honey from a beehive, but the bees attack and nearly kill him. He’s saved by two Penobscot males, Saknis and his grandson Attean. Saknis nurses Matt back to health. In exchange for food, Matt agrees to instruct Attean in reading English.

Attean doesn’t want lessons but enjoys listening to the book Robinson Crusoe. In return, Attean teaches Matt basic skills for living in the forest: how to catch prey with snares, start campfires with ordinary stones, make hooks for fishing, mark trails, and find herbs. Attean also shows Matt how to build his own bow and arrows for hunting.

Attean brings Matt to a beaver dam that’s under the protection of his people, and the latter begins to learn the hunting territories of the various local clans. They discover a fox in a leg trap; Attean says the colonists ensnare creatures for their hides, which has caused important animal populations to decline.

After finishing Robinson Crusoe, Matt and Attean work through the most exciting Bible stories. Attean says his people have a tale similar to Noah’s ark, about a flood. He also discloses that he tells his community Matt’s stories.

On a hike, Matt and Attean encounter a large, angry bear. Attean quickly kills it with arrows and a knife. His community holds a feast, and Matt is invited. It’s a night of eating, dancing, and storytelling. Matt, exhausted, sleeps in a wigwam.

Attean explains to Matt that his people have mixed feelings about the colonists, who overhunt animals for their pelts and have killed Indigenous people in the past. Since the Europeans’ arrival, local peoples have become poor.

While exploring the forest, Matt finds Attean’s dog caught in a leg trap. He hurries to the Beaver clan village and begs Saknis’s wife, Grandmother, to help him save the dog. She hates the colonists, but Marie, Attean’s sister, talks her into helping. Marie and Matt save the dog, and Grandmother accepts Matt as a friend of the village. Matt spends a day in the village, where he plays rough games with the other boys and earns their respect.

One day, Attean goes into the forest alone and waits for a sign from his manitou, a spirit guide who will help him become a man. Several days later, he and Saknis appear at Matt’s cabin. Attean’s head is shaved, save for a topknot—a sign of him having found his manitou. Saknis says winter is coming, and since Matt’s father still hasn’t shown up, he invites Matt to join the village on its winter hunting expedition. Matt ruefully turns him down, as he feels he must guard the cabin until his family arrives.

Attean returns one last time with gifts from Saknis, Grandmother, and himself. He says the village won’t return in the spring but will instead move west onto lands not yet colonized. Attean leaves his dog, who is too injured to travel, with Matt.

As winter closes in on Matt, everything he learned from Attean and the Beaver clan come into use. Just before December, his family finally appears. Weak from typhus but thrilled to see Matt again, they don’t know what to make of his insistence that nearby Penobscot people befriended him and are peaceful. More settlers will arrive soon, and Matt hopes that Attean’s people find a new place to live.