Scat

Scat is a story about a highly intelligent young boy named Lil' Fellow, his life, his family, and those he interacts with throughout the early years of his life. The reader will get to know and love each character they are reading about. The setting for this story is the early 1900s in a small town. This was the time when schools were still segregated, the time when sharecropping was popular, the days when whites and blacks-races-weren't treated the same in all respects but worked side by side to get whatever jobs needed doing done. You will not want to miss reading about Pa's merchant marine days, and Mr. Sato, the Japanese gentleman he meets at sea and establishes a friendship with. Sato plays a part in Lil' Fellow's life, too. There is Charlie Oates, a black neighbor of the Butts's. He and his family play a great part in Lil' Fellow's life and the town's. Nor will you want to miss Ms. Henrietta, the schoolteacher; Roof, the school bully; A. H. Slocham, the preacher; Sara, Lil' Fellow's first love; Cutie, Lil' Fellow's last love; and the many other interesting characters that intertwine in Lil' Fellow's life.
Lil' Fellow, being highly intelligent, faces many challenges in his life. He has a hard time as he begins first grade because of this intelligence and a teacher with a bad attitude toward the male species. He, also has a hard time because of his stature. He is very short for his age. This makes him a prime target for the school bully. It is because of this teacher and the school bully that Lil' Fellow's pa and ma decide to home-school him. Their objective is to get him to seventh grade in a year's time. By doing this, he will not have the same teacher the following school term.
Pa uses this time to teach Lil' Fellow how to "protect himself," too. Pa, being an old merchant marine, had learned many ways of survival during his voyages. Ma did not approve of all of the things Pa had learned, and definitely didn't want Lil' Fellow learning them. This was one of m