Beautiful. Buy this book for people.

Story of a young boy who is left orphaned and raised by his grandparents in Appalachia. His grandmother is Cherokee and his grandfather half Cherokee. They live in a small house up on a mountainside, with a bunch of hound dogs that protect their corn patch and trail foxes (for amusement). They mostly live off the land, gathering herbs, acorns and wild greens, hunting deer, catching fish etc. But the grandfather also makes whiskey in an attempt to earn some cash, and young Little Tree is learning this skill. Something I never thought I’d read the details of, making moonshine! Most of the story takes place while Little Tree is six years old (he seems older than that though), and there’s other stories told by visitors and friends, or shared family history. The kid does his best to learn what his grandparents teach him- not only to live off what the land gives them, but also to read (his grandmother reads Shakespeare from the library, and has him studying the dictionary) and do simple math. He’s pretty well taught for a kid who’s never gone to school, but when out in public with his grandfather- at the store, on the bus, or sitting in church- it’s apparent that the white folks around them look down on his family for being poor in material goods, for going barefoot or wearing deerskin clothing. Although the kid himself never really catches on that he’s being mocked. Different kinds of people come to their little house- those representing authorities that have good interests at heart, are given the runaround (in some very hilarious scenes). Relatives, friends, and one Jewish peddler however, are welcomed into their home, and Little Tree learns compassion, patience, and other bits of wisdom from them.

Things happen, up and down the mountainside, and I was settling into the rhythm of their days, the picture of life in the backwoods this gave me, when suddenly authorities find out this kid is living with his grandparents and not in school. They pull him out of his home and send him to a religious boarding school. Where things are very unpleasant and oppressive, to say the least. I’m glad the kid made it out of there, but the ending had me feeling really sad.

This book brought two others to mind while I was reading it: Where the Red Fern Grows (because of the hound dogs) and Where the Lilies Bloom (the setting and overall style). But once again, it also makes me grit my teeth when I look about online after and learn some facts. When this book was first published the author said it was autobiographical. Nope. He’s not even Native American. Before I was aware, I was enjoying the read and thought it a good story, but now I cringe at the things I didn’t question in the narrative, that are so blatantly wrong or stereotypical. Have to read with doubt in mind now: American Indians in Children’s Literature made me aware of some issues with this one. I feel like I should remove it from my personal collection.

from the Dogear Diary ( )

Little Tree's parents die when he is only five years old, and he goes into the mountains to live with his grandparents. His Grandma is full Cherokee, and his Grandpa is Cherokee/Scotts, but lives the Cherokee way. Most of the book is more like a collections of short stories, telling little episodes in Little Tree's life, and how his Grandpa taught him everything worth knowing. Some of the tales are sad, some fascinating, and some laugh out loud funny. We see the world through the eyes of a young child, who is as innocent as they come. Beautiful book.
(If you have an early edition, it may be identified as biography. It is not. It is fiction, and should be read as such.) ( )

I don't think I've cried so hard over the last chapters of a book since I was a little girl and Charlotte said her last goodbye to Wilbur. This is one of those classics that is a classic for a reason. Sad, funny, and beautiful by turns, the story of Little Tree's childhood being raised by his Cherokee grandparents in a fiercely independent mountain community during the Depression is well worth reading. The story, the characters, the prose, the nods to history--all of it is superbly executed.

Edit: I tend to skim over author biographies in older books and wasn't aware that a)this had been marketed as a memoir for years and b)the author is/was DEEPLY problematic. I still loved the book. ( )

Carter's novel is billed as the recollections of his few years with his Eastern Cherokee Hill country grandparents, who he lived with after being orphaned at age 5. (see below, which I learned later)
Although I enjoyed the anecdotal stories, and some of the narrator's catch-phrases, I wasn't too impressed with the book overall.
Even given that it is being written by a grown man backfilling his memories with a mature understanding and developed ideology, the events he relates are not, in my view (having raised five boys), ones that would have impressed themselves on a 5-7 year old in the manner presented, even if he remembered them at all.

Some of the narration is definitely colored by an adult viewpoint that Little Tree at that age would not have absorbed.
Also, what Little Tree sometimes does is unusual for such a young child, even in the more self-sufficient past years, and would be more characteristic of an older boy. I would believe it of an 8-9 year old, and some of it is more likely for the early teens.

I've noticed this defect in other books by men (and sometimes women) purporting to write about young children; I don't think they have a good grasp of child developmental stages.

Also, this is fiction, not a genuine memoir, and has been "debunked" since 1986, despite its glowing praise earlier, before the author was discovered to be writing under a false name and pretenses.

His view of Cherokee & half-breed country life was therefore not the "authentic one" lauded by earlier reviewers -- Mr. Strickland probably cringes every time he thinks about his Foreword to the 1986 edition (which just goes to show how poorly our literary mavens judge books) -- but that doesn't mean there were not some people of that milieu who saw things the way Carter presented them.

The author's prior White Supremacist ideology doesn't seem to have colored the narrator's viewpoint, which is outwardly sympathetic to the native plight. I didn't detect that particular strain in my reading before checking the Wiki article, and clearly none of its earlier fans did either.
So the question goes: if the author's "bad think" doesn't make it into the book, is the book still tainted?

I just think it wasn't as great as the fashionable-fans thought it was.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Education_of_Little_Tree ( )