Ahoy there mateys! Here I take a second look at a previously enjoyed novel and give me crew me second reflections, as it were, upon visitin’ it again.

I adore this author! I previously shared me second reflections of one of me favourite children’s books, the witch of blackbird pond. It was both a banned book and a Newbery winner. Then earlier this year, I read her other Newbery winner, the bronze bow, for the first time. The two reads made me want to revisit this one. And I loved it. What I didn’t catch as a kid was that this is sort of a reverse Robinson Crusoe retelling. I think I hadn’t read that Crusoe tale before readin’ this one. In this story, a young 12 year-old boy is left behind on the new homestead in Maine while his father goes to fetch the rest of the family. Young Matt gets into trouble and a local tribe helps him out. In return Matt is supposed to teach Attean, a young member of the Beaver clan to read. This book explores the relationship between the two boys while using the book Robinson Crusoe as a backdrop. What I loved best about this book was that the “savage” tribe ends of saving the day and the white boy Matt is enriched and grows through this relationship. Now given that I am not a Native American, I am not sure how well the rep is done in this. But I do enjoy the friendship between the two boys. And of course survival in the wilderness stories always make me happy. Arrrr!

Side note: I looked up the representation in this book and found this article from the American Indians in Children’s Literature website. It was excellent and I particularly enjoyed the comment section regarding whether this book should be taught in schools. Also the story was based off a real Attean who did befriend a white boy. Cool!

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