40 Fun Facts About The Sign of the Beaver

In The Sign of the Beaver, what does Matt hurl at a charging mother bear to buy Attean time?

A dead rabbit, the first he had ever shot with his bow, hit the bear on the head and gave Attean a moment to fit an arrow. Afterwards Attean paid Matt his highest compliment: he had moved as fast as one of Attean's own people.

In The Sign of the Beaver, which novel does Matt give Attean's grandfather as thanks for saving him?

Robinson Crusoe was one of only two books in the cabin, the other being the family Bible. Attean later scoffs that its hero had a whole ship's cargo to live on.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what does the beaver mark cut into a tree tell those who pass it?

A clan's hunting ground was marked this way, and Attean says no other hunter would take game there. Matt wonders whether settlers like his own people would show the same respect.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what attacks Matt when he climbs a tree, sick of eating plain fish?

A swarm of bees poured out when he tugged at the rotten bark around their hole, and he hurt his ankle as he fled to the pond. Attean and his grandfather, who had been watching, pulled him out.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what does Matt give Attean when the two friends part for the last time?

A silver watch handed down through his family was the only valuable thing Matt owned. Attean, who had just left him his beloved dog, understood at once how much it meant.

In The Sign of the Beaver, why does Matt refuse to leave for the north with Attean's people?

He must wait for his family, because his father trusted him to hold the cabin until they came. Attean's grandfather respects the choice and shakes his hand.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what does a stranger steal after Matt gives him supper and shelter?

His father's rifle had hung above the cabin door, and the thief was gone with it when Matt woke. Matt was left to live on fish from the creek.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what must Attean find alone in the forest before he can become a hunter?

His manitou, a guiding spirit, comes only after days alone in the woods without food. Attean returns with his head shaved except for a topknot, carrying himself like a man.

In The Sign of the Beaver, Matt's family finally reaches the cabin just before which holiday?

Christmas was only days away when Matt saw his father dragging a sled through the snow. The family had been due back in August.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what must Matt do for Attean in return for gifts of fresh meat?

Teach him to read: that was the treaty Attean's grandfather proposed, so the boy could one day understand the papers white men asked his people to sign. Attean was furious at the idea.

The Sign of the Beaver is set in the wilderness of which present-day state?

Maine was also where the author found the true story behind the novel, about a boy left alone in the woods for a summer and befriended by his Native neighbors.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what is the name of Attean's grandfather, who nurses Matt back to health?

Saknis leads the beaver people and had quietly kept an eye on the cabin since Matt was left there. He comes back after the rescue with food and a pair of moccasins.

In The Sign of the Beaver, a bear gets into the unbarred cabin and empties Matt's keg of what?

Molasses was the treasure of his food store, and the bear ripped open the flour sack too, tracking it all over the cabin floor. Matt was furious with himself for not barring the door.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what is the name of the stranger in a ragged army coat who visits Matt?

Ben says he sometimes lives among the Indians and is on the run after trouble in a nearby town. He tells tall tales with himself as the hero, and Matt never feels easy around him.

In The Sign of the Beaver, Matt's family comes from which Massachusetts town near Boston?

Quincy was so far from the new cabin that Matt's father expected the round trip to take six or seven weeks. The family had bought their plot of wild land the winter before.

In The Sign of the Beaver, which device does Attean show Matt how to build to catch small game?

A snare made from materials found in the forest explained why the animals Attean brought never had bullet holes in them. Once Matt could set his own, he no longer needed to be fed.

Which two-time Newbery Medal winner wrote the frontier survival novel The Sign of the Beaver?

Elizabeth George Speare was in her seventies when the book came out in 1983, more than two decades after her medal-winning novels.

In The Sign of the Beaver, where does Matt sleep after the bear feast in Attean's village?

An empty wigwam was his bed after hours of dancing, storytelling and bowls of stew. By daylight the village that had seemed so mysterious looked shabby and poor.

In The Sign of the Beaver, why is Attean left behind when the village men go deer hunting?

He owns no gun, and buying one would cost many beaver skins at a time when the animals are growing scarce. Matt begins to see how poor the village has become.

In The Sign of the Beaver, which Bible story does Attean match with a tale from his own people?

Noah's ark reminds Attean of Gluskabe, a hero who lived through a great flood and made the animals and people. Matt is left wondering how two peoples came to tell such similar stories.

In The Sign of the Beaver, Attean storms off when a man in Matt's storybook kneels and becomes what?

A slave to his white rescuer is what the man becomes, and Attean shouts that he should have died rather than kneel. Matt, who had never questioned the scene, softens the story from then on.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what material tells Attean that a white man set the trap holding a fox?

Iron traps were never used by Attean's people, and the fox was suffering, yet he would not touch it. Matt could not understand a code that left an animal in pain.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what does Attean do in his own language right after killing the bear?

He asks its forgiveness, telling the animal he had not wanted to kill her. The women of the village then come to cut up the meat and carry it home.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what is the name of Attean's sister, who helps Matt free a trapped dog?

Marie translates Matt's plea for her grandmother, then begs to go with him and runs back through the forest to the trap. Matt later thinks how much she is like his own sister.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what does Matt forfeit after losing a game of chance to the village boys?

His shirt went to the winners of a game played much like dice, though Attean's grandmother made her grandson fetch it back before Matt went home.

In The Sign of the Beaver, which illness strikes Matt's family and delays their journey by months?

Typhus kept the whole family in bed for weeks, and Matt's mother had it worst of all. She was still so weak on arrival that Matt had to help her through the cabin door.

In The Sign of the Beaver, how does Matt's father tell him to keep count of the passing days?

Notches cut in sticks, one for every day, were meant to count off the weeks until August. By winter Matt had lost track and could only guess at the date.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what does Matt cut up to make himself warm breeches for winter?

A blanket became a crude pair of breeches once his own clothes wore thin, and the skin of an animal he trapped gave him a hat.

The author of The Sign of the Beaver won a Newbery Medal for which novel set in colonial New England?

The Witch of Blackbird Pond won in 1959 and was only her second novel. Its heroine leaves Barbados at sixteen to live with Puritan relatives.

The Sign of the Beaver was the first book ever to win which prize for historical fiction?

The Scott O'Dell Award was founded in 1982, but its judges found no book of sufficient merit until this one in 1984. Its founder wrote Island of the Blue Dolphins.

Which 1997 television film starring Keith Carradine was adapted from The Sign of the Beaver?

Keeping the Promise cast Carradine as Matt's father and Gordon Tootoosis as Attean's grandfather. It was filmed in Ontario, Canada.

In The Sign of the Beaver, how do settlers mark a forest trail, unlike Attean's faint signs?

Knife blazes on trees could be followed by anyone who came along. Attean's people left only a broken twig or two stones pushed together, signs a stranger would walk straight past.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what is the surname of Matt's family, settlers from Massachusetts?

Hallowell is the surname Matt gives in reply when Attean's grandfather first introduces himself. His father had bought the claim that Matt stays behind to guard.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what does Matt make from husks as a gift for his sister?

A doll for Sarah joined a set of wooden dishes he had carved for his mother. Matt had once thought his sister a pest, but months alone made him miss her pluck.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what does Matt build for the new baby he expects to arrive?

A cradle was ready when the family came, but Matt's father had sad news: the baby had lived only five days.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what does Attean first use to catch fish before showing Matt a hook?

A spear came first, then a hook, at a stretch of creek Matt had never seen. After the boys cooked and ate their catch, Matt saw Attean smile for the first time.

Which Beverly Cleary novel won the 1984 Newbery Medal, leaving The Sign of the Beaver an Honor book?

Dear Mr. Henshaw, told through a sixth-grader's letters to his favorite author, took the medal that year.

Which lifetime achievement honor did the author of The Sign of the Beaver receive in 1989?

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, since renamed the Children's Literature Legacy Award, honored her whole body of work. In those years it was handed out only once every three years.

In The Sign of the Beaver, which crop do Matt and his father plant beside the new cabin?

Corn was planted before Matt's father left, and tending the patch was one of the chores that filled the boy's days. Attean looked down on such field work.

In The Sign of the Beaver, what parting gift does Attean's grandfather send to Matt?

A pair of snowshoes, finely made, let Matt cross the first deep snow with a feeling of utter freedom. That morning he realized he no longer feared the winter ahead.