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  • The Education of Little Tree
    Carter, Forrest

    1986
    Book

    First published in 1976, this autobiography contains Forrest Carter's--Little Tree's--remembrances of life with his Eastern Cherokee Hill country grandparents in the 1930s. There are 21 chapters, recounting humorous and serious episodes from a 5-year period and dealing with the themes of growing up, Indian life and values, family relationships, and the relationship of man and the earth. The book begins when the author is 5 years old and goes to live with his grandparents after the death of his parents. The first chapter tells how he was given the name of Little Tree by his grandmother and describes the mountain hollow and the cabin where he will live with his grandparents. In the second chapter, Little Tree learns to hunt wild turkey with his grandfather and learns the Cherokee ethics of hunting. Other chapters tell of borrowing great books from the library, fox hunting, friends and friendships, grandfather's trade of whiskey-making, gathering food, family history, planting, religion and going to church, and boarding school. The final chapter relates the deaths of Little Tree's grandfather and grandmother and his decision to head west on his own. (JHZ)