Most enjoyable! The title and cover give very little sign of the richness within.

Mr. Carter offers deep and enriching insights into the thought processes of people choosing to live a more simple life. Not condeming other ways of life, instead showing through his vivid and descriptions the full and pleasureable lives that many of our forefathers led.

I will definately look for more of his writings.

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I loved this book until I found out that it was a work of fiction that misrepresented Cherokees under the guise of being an legitimate autobiography. If you want to read books by real Native Americans, don't read this. Instead you might read some Sherman Alexie or Leslie Marmon Silko. It is actually the work of a KKK member and segregationist Asa Carter who had previously written some of defiant segregationist Governor George Wallace's most famous speeches only to turn on him for being too accommodating to desegregation and running against him. Had he only written a work of fiction and labelled it as such it could stand or fall on its own merits. But Carter's appropriation of an "Indian" identity for his own purposes as an author is an act of cultural vandalism. See http://www.npr.org/2012/04/20/151037079/the-artful-reinvention-of-klansman-asa-earl-carter or http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2008/03/going_native.html for more information on his history and actions.

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This is a candidate for high honours in audio tapes: the story is appealing, the narrator is excellent and the novel has been cut with great thoughtful-ness. Little Tree, orphaned at the age of five, goes to live with his loving Native American grandparents who teach him the ways of the Cherokee. The chapters are self-contained stories, yet the characters are sustained from one chapter to the next. This is due to the comfortable reading done by Peter Coyote who makes the listener believe that the story is his own personal history. Sounding a bit like Henry Fonda, he makes us cry and laugh and care, with straightforward acting and no tricks. J.P. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

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I have read this book 5 times. It calls to me every year or so, and, wondering why, since it always leaves me in tears, I have decided that the simple, clear integrity of the lives of the characters in this book appeals to something deep inside of me. Raised a cultural christian, with all of the bible "training" and Sunday school attendance pins that go along with that background, I was always mildly troubled by the guilt and shame for just being human that orthodox Christianity attempted to cast over me. I realized, as an adult and after much study and soul searching, that we are a simple part of a complex universe, and, deserve to live in it fully, with all of the joys and sorrows encountered along the way, and, be able to question every single fascinating bauble that comes our way. I am also comfortable in the knowledge that my soul is part of something finite and larger than this life. I do not have to pay dues to a church or judgemental diety. Little tree was not raised to feel guilt or shame unless he did something to deserve it. Little Tree's simple life, religion and expectations, with a heritage of love, allowed him to live his life with crystal clear vision and peace. This book is written in a style that lets one's soul soar with expectation, if only for the short time that it takes to read it. God, please grant me the grace to raise my children like Little Tree.

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