In this Newbery Honor Book, a thirteen-year-old boy struggles to
survive on his own in the wilderness of eighteenth-century Maine.
When Matt's father leaves him on his own to guard their new cabin in the
wilderness, Matt is scared but determined to be brave and prove that he
can take care of himself. And things are going fine until a white
stranger steals his gun, leaving Matt defenseless and unable to hunt for
his food.
Then Matt meets Attean, a Native boy from the Beaver tribe, and soon
learns that people called the land around him home long before the white
settlers ever arrived. As Attean teaches him more about his own culture,
Matt must come to terms with what the changing frontier really means.
Now with an introduction by critically acclaimed writer Joseph Bruchac
about the historical context and the relationships between Native
peoples and white settlers in the eighteenth century.