Author Study-Elizabeth George Speare

Author Study-Elizabeth George Speare

by Leanna Perryman

​Author Says....

​Interesting Facts

• Lived in Melrose, Massachusetts​

• Born-Nov 1908

• ​Died-Nov 1994 (she was 84)

• called one of America’s 100 most popular children's authors

• ​Speare discovered her gift for writing at the age of eight

• ​earned her Master's degree in English from Boston University

• ​taught English at several private Massachusetts high schools

• ​two children; Alden, Jr., who was born in 1939, and Mary in 1942.

• ​Speare's first published work was a magazine article about skiing with her children.

Multiple Choice

Speare was from...

• Georgia

• Idaho

• Massachusetts

• Maine

Multiple Choice

How old was Speare when she discovered her gift for writing?

• 8

• 10

• 7

• 12

Multiple Choice

Speare taught what subject in high school?

• Spanish

• French

• English

• Math

Multiple Choice

How many kids did Speare have?

• 1 girl

• 1 boy

• 1 boy and 1 girl

• 2 boys

​The Sign of the Beaver

• ​The Sign Of the Beaver was published and received a Newbery Honor Citation, the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and the Christopher Award.

• ​It was also made into a movie.

• ​In this Newbery Honor book, a thirteen-year-old boy struggles to survive on his own in the wilderness of eighteenth-century Maine.

Multiple Choice

True or False: The Sign of the Beaver is about survival in the wilderness.

• True

• False