The Education of Little Tree

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Summary: A story that speaks simply --and to your heart and spirit
Review: The story of Little Tree begins when the five year old goes to live with his Cherokee grandparents. Set in the 1930's the tale is told through the eyes and voice of this child.

You will chuckle, cry and be captivated throughout this book as you join Little Tree on his daily journey through life and the lessons presented to him through nature and his granpa and granma. The book conveys lessons of life and truths that hold true today....that somehow often get overlooked or taken forgranted.

Spirituality, extrasensory perception, honoring others (including plants and animals), loving one another are some of the topics you will find.

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Summary: A Great Book
Review: When I was first assingned to read this book for summer reading in ninth grade, I thought, that I would not enjoy it. I was very wrong. Once I began to read it, I could hardly put it down. The story's themes are universal. It is an all-around great story, filled with life's greatest lessons of joy, death, and struggle. Everyone can learn from this book, just as I learned a great deal from Little Tree.

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Summary: An Excellent choice
Review: After reading this book from a friends recommendation, I am convinced that it is one of the best books I have read. The story is extremely moving, and brought me to tears (of both joy and sorrow) on several occasions. It is an inspirational narrative on the beauty of the human spirit and it's interaction with the natural world in which we live. It presents many facets of the society in which we as humans, wish to live, and presents notions about a culture that we chose to erase. A must read.

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Summary: THE INDIAN OUTLOOK OF LIFE WHICH IS UNIQUE..SPELLED OUT
Review: I have always enjoyed and appreciated books about American Indians. Their society and outlook of life is very different from the typical Americans.' This book explains in simple detail what an Indian is about as it is written from the viewpoint of a 6 yr. old.

Indians are purely physical as to their world makeup and they know what nature brings them and how it protects and feeds them. They also have a deep spiritual awareness that includes the ability of animals to aid in their daily life and help them in many different ways.

This book does not go into some of the complex issues of Indian philosophy, but introduces one into the reality of life as ascertained by most Indians. A short read and one most worthwhile.

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Summary: Recommended as a curio
Review: This is the infamous book that fooled many people then and now. After the author's death, "Forrest" Carter, the so-called Native American, was revealed to be actually Asa or Ace Carter, George Wallace's speechwriter (most notably Wallace's "Segregation Forever" speech). That has been confirmed.

If the reader bears that in mind, he or she may enjoy the book. I regard it more as a curiousity piece.

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Summary: The best book I have ever read!
Review: In the book, Little Tree is left orphaned and is taken home to live with his Cherokee grandparents. Because of the age difference between Little Tree and his caregivers, he is raised to learn life's lessons very quickly at an early age. The author portrays him as young in body but because of the influence of his grandfather, appears more mature in thought. Early in life Little Tree experiences issues that many students face today; alienation from family and groups, minority issues, issues of death and loneliness, and issues of discovering himself in the presence of societal conformity. Like many children, Little Tree must find ways to deal with these issues by weighing how his grandfather interprets things versus how he himself interprets the world and the issues surrounding him. He is innocent in a humorous sort of way, sometimes by not completely understanding the cunning intentions of evil people. Little Tree finds solace in nature by resorting to his "secret hiding place" as do many children search to find solace in the things of today's world. Little Tree continually strives to make his grandparents proud. Often times this places added stress and pressure upon him making it difficult for him to be to enjoy "the moment". He is curious about how others live and searches to find his own religion. He must decide what he believes and his grandfather allows him to make the mistakes in order to learn his lessons the hard way. Written much like Huck Finn, Little Tree is a good example of how children can take the harmful affects that society places on them and turn them into positive learning experiences. Most of all, The Education of Little Tree allows the reader to gain a deeper appreciation for the Cherokee minority and their influence on the values of present day society. This book would be an excellent book to read aloud to children in grades 2-5.

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Summary: The Education of us All
Review: The education of Little Tree, by Forrest carter is a book about a family of native americans living in a world of people that don't understand and criticise their culture. The young boy, Little Tree, with the help of his grand parents learns the way of life and his culture. The young boy is often confronted with teasing and racial slurs from those around him. Being young and new to this world he doesn't understand why people are saying what they're saying. This poor lonley family, trying it's hardest to make it's way through the precicution of the people that they live around, shines a light into the world of the unknown for our own. This book is great, written in the same type of text as Huck. Finn this book gives a great insight to the characters way of life. It lets us look deeper into another view of life. It's almost like looking into a mirror that shows us through the eyes of another. It's very well written in such a stylized way, that gives it amore of a feeling of being there; actually watching every thing happen. Most books that people reas come from our way of life and the culture of the "Americans." It's time that we coome out of that comfort zone and open up our eyes to a world we hardly think about. This is a great book, if any thing it will enlighten the reader, and make them more concious about their life style, and way of life.

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Summary: Sticking with the Basics...
Review: A simply written story, that is easy to read by all ages, it has a charming style which makes us get more attracted to the basics of life, the beauty of nature, and the strong relationships in the family...It contains humor, tragedy, high expectations, and strong beliefs...takes us through all the phases of life from beginning to end...

It reminds us of how beautiful things are when they are simple, and how the more effort we put into things to change them, the more we ruin their beauty, and their meaning...It also teachs us that we have to be proud in whatever we do, in who we are, and stick with the standards...

It has been really helpful reading "The Education of Little Tree", and it can't but touch you the way it ends....

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Summary: To Know the Past
Review: Regardless of the very few bad reviews, especially those who begin by saying "My teacher made me read this...",the naivete, innocence, awe-filled spirit of Little Tree and Granma and Granpa is what matters. The simple life - learning to read from dictionary and classic literature, learning math from a kind peddler who stops by each month - a Jew, who finds comfort and solace and acceptance at granma and granpa's table - learning about the woods and the trees and the birds, to take only what you need and use all of what you take, when to plant and when to reap, to give from the heart, to "kin" others, learning about body spirit and mind spirit, and how they are different. It is about learning tolerance, coming to a deeper understanding of the soul, the spirit, the individual, the planet; a life that moves beyond an understanding of words, of an "education" that leaves out the truer matters of life, and a drive to feed the ego above all else. Why are most whites in the book portrayed negatively? Because in the 1930's, in the backwoods of Tennessee, most were angry, and still recovering from a war they fought to keep other races down. Many resented the Indians who had fled to the hills to avoid being rounded up like cattle and driven across the country to reservations, they resented the native's ability to survive in the woods and make a life for themselves in spite of the government's attempt to keep them all nice and tidy in a controlled group (after killing most of them on the Long Walk and the Trail of Tears). I can look at my past with some objectivity and say that my family fought in the American Civil War (all in blue, of course, I am a Yankee) but did they do it for purely noble cause? Not likely. They more likely did it to protect their pocketbooks, and freeing African slaves was just a bonus. My ancestors drove Native Americans out of the very valley in which I am sitting, they fought, they killed (so did the natives; they were fighting for their birthright, for their land, for their futures, as were my ancestors). Would that we all could have some objectivity when it comes to thinking about and acknowledging our histories. It is just a really wonderful book, and I don't care what the man was in his youth. As to the comments about the autobiographical nature of the book - well, are we going to say that Laura Ingalls Wilder told her stories with complete and unerring accuracy? That every word written within her pages was complete and total and unbiased truth? That she rose from her bed every morning, cheerful and ready to work the day away? Of course not. It was written by an older woman, seperated from her youth by time, writing what she remembered as a child growing up on prairies and in towns, in the post civil war American west. Forrest Carter is writing from his adult mind about his innocent and rich childhood, trying to convey the values his Granma taught him, the values he forgot for a moment in his younger days, writing speeches for the KKK, and exorcising the demons instilled in him in the orphanage. To know the past you must look at it, see it for what it was, learn from it, and move through it. Who has clearer vision than a child?

Rating:
Summary: Little Tree
Review: Little Tree was an ok book.It was not very exciting. the ending was good though. Also, it was kinding confusing. It had an nice story to it though. I thought that it was slow and took forever for it to get on with the point. What happend is that Little Tree gets to go to an orphanage becaus his grandparents think that they are being selfesh. Little Tree dosen't like it at the orphanage and when his grandpa comes to visit him, Little Tree says that he want's to home. His grandpa says ok and takes him home. I liked that part of the story, it was nice.