The Sign of the Beaver
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 10+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Matt is twelve and has to guard his family's new cabin in the Maine woods all alone while his father goes to get the rest of the family. After a bear and a swarm of bees nearly ruin him, a Native man named Saknis saves him. Matt teaches Saknis's grandson Attean to read, and Attean teaches Matt how to live in the forest. A strong survival story about friendship and humility, with some hard history to talk through. Age 10, set by Lumen's own call and the publisher's Grades 5-7.
For parents
Age 10, set by Lumen's own read-alone call and the publisher's Grades 5-7 (Rainbow Resource); no Common Sense Media page could be fetched. Read it aloud from 8. There is a bear killing, bee stings, animals in traps, and the news that Attean's mother was killed by bounty hunters for her scalp. Matt's baby sibling dies off-page. Attean fasts alone to seek his manitou, a spirit guide in his people's religion. Explain that we honor his courage but we pray to the one true God, who made every people. Ask: what did Matt learn from Attean? How did Matt treat the reading lessons when Attean was hurt by the story? Some critics, including anthropologists Valerie and Michael Lambert, say the book stereotypes Native people, showing Attean as unwilling to work or learn to read and Native women as drudges. Ask: is the book fair to Attean's people?