The Education of Little
Tree tells of a boy orphaned very young, who is adopted by his Cherokee
grandmother and half-Cherokee grandfather in the Appalachian mountains
of Tennessee during the Great Depression. Little Tree as his
grandparents call him is shown how to hunt and survive in the mountains,
to respect nature in the Cherokee Way, taking only what is needed,
leaving the rest for nature to run its course. Little Tree also learns
the often callous ways of white businessmen and tax collectors, and how
Granpa, in hilarious vignettes, scares them away from his illegal
attempts to enter the cash economy. Granma teaches Little Tree the joys
of reading and education. But when Little Tree is taken away by whites
for schooling, we learn of the cruelty meted out to Indian children in
an attempt to assimilate them and of Little Tree's perception of the
Anglo world and how it differs from the Cherokee Way. A classic of its
era, and an enduring book for all ages, The Education of Little Tree has
now been redesigned for this twenty-fifth anniversary edition.
