Incident at Hawk's Hill

the long version

From Wikipedia: "*Incident at Hawk's Hill* is a Newbery Honor book by naturalist and writer Allan W. Eckert published in 1971. Supposedly based on a true event, it is an historical fiction novel centering on a six-year-old boy who gets lost on the Canadian prairie and survives thanks to a mother badger. Though the Newbery is an award for children's literature, Incident at Hawk's Hill was originally published as an adult novel. It was also an American Library Association Notable book."