Speare, Elizabeth George (1908-1994), was an American author of historical fiction for children. Her novels The Witch of Blackbird Pond (1958) and The Bronze Bow (1961) won the 1959 and 1962 Newbery medals. The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a romantic novel set in the late 1680’s that portrays the unrest in New England during the era of the witch trials. The Bronze Bow is a re-creation of events in the Middle East during the time of Jesus Christ.
Speare’s first novel was Calico Captive (1957), based on a true story about a New England girl and her family who were kidnapped by Indians and taken to Canada in the mid-1700’s. The Sign of the Beaver (1983) is set in Maine during the 1700’s. It is a sympathetic account of the conflict between Indian values and the values of the early settlers as well as the story of a friendship between two boys of different backgrounds. Speare also wrote the nonfiction Life in Colonial America (1963) and the adult novel Prospering (1967). In 1989, she received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now called the Children’s Literature Legacy Award) for her contribution to children’s literature. Speare was born on Nov. 21, 1908, in Melrose, Massachusetts. She died on Nov. 15, 1994.
