This story has entranced readers of all ages since it was first published twenty-five years ago. The tale tells the story 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 the white businessmen and tax collectors, and how Grandpa, in hilarious vignettes, scares them away from his illegal attempts to enter the cash economy. Grandma teaches Little Tree the joys of reading and education. But when Little Tree is taken away for schooling by whites, 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.

Forrest Carter (1925-71) also wrote Josey Wales: Two Westerns.