Synopsis for the Book "The Sign of the Beaver" Written By Mei Makes
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare.
Matt is left alone in the forest in Maine with nothing much but a mostly finished cabin and some food. His father leaves to get his family. Some Indians rescue him from lots of bee stings. Is his family going to come home? Will the Indians be kind and welcome him or will they be polite as possible but be as hard as stone? And the biggest question, will Matt be able to survive in his environment? All of these questions and so much more are going to be answered in The Sign of the Beaver!
It all started with a boy named Matt. His father had bought some land in Native American territory, in Maine. Matt's father left Matt on the land, once they had mostly finished the house, to get the rest of the family. Matt was left to protect the house and finish some minor issues around the cabin. For example, Matt had to fill the holes in the walls of the house with clay and keep the corn growing.
After a while, a man steals Matt's father's rifle and an animal knocks Matt's precious flour and drank the even more precious molasses until it is all gone. He then goes and tries to get honey from the bees, but succeeds only in getting stung many many times by the angry swarm of bees. Surprisingly, an Indian (Native American) Chief saves him. Matt and the Indian Chief make a treaty together. The chief's grandson will learn English from Matt and will provide him food to eat, while Matt will teach Attean, the grandson, how to write English on paper.
The treaty works really well, except that Attean doesn't want to learn how to write in English. He thinks it's a waste of time. Matt learns many things from Attean that are better than the ways that white men do it. Sometimes, Matt has to defend white men because Attean says that Indians are much better than white people. For Example, Attean says that their way of fishing is much better. (Attean and his tribe used spears to spear fish in the river.)
One day, Matt succeeds in catching a bunny with his improved bow that Attean showed him how to make. Matt and Attean walk through the forest, until Attean says to be quiet because there is a female bear with her cub. Matt throws the rabbit at the bear and Attean hit it with his arrows. They had killed it!
Then, Attean goes to find his manitou, like a spirit. Matt waits many days for Attean to come back. Finally, Attean comes back, but his grandfather is with him. Attean had changed because he was no longer a boy, but a hunter and a man. His grandfather asks if Matt will live with them and become Attean's white brother, since Matt's family hasn't come yet. Matt stays loyal to his family and says no to the offer.
Attean comes again, alone. They give each other gifts and Attean tells Matt that they will never come back. They are going to move away. Matt insists that Attean still needs to learn how to write, but Attean objects saying that they are going to move away to where there aren't any white people.
Matt waits a long time before his family comes. Since it is the winter, he makes himself lots of warm clothes. He also saves a lot of food for his family. Finally, his family comes home when it is snowing. Unfortunately, the baby died on the way there. It turned out that Matt's family had gotten sick and had to recover before they could come. Matt and his family were now all happy because they were now all together!
Comments
Post a Comment