"The term 'Apple' is a slur in Native communities across the country. It's for someone supposedly 'red on the outside, white on the inside.' Eric Gansworth is telling his story in Apple (Skin to the Core). The story of his family, of Onondaga among Tuscaroras, of Native folks everywhere. From the horrible legacy of the government boarding schools, to a boy watching his siblings leave and return and leave again, to a young man fighting to be an artist who balances multiple worlds. Eric shatters that slur and reclaims it in verse and prose and imagery that truly lives up to the word heartbreaking." -- Inside front jacket flap.

"National Book Award Longlist"--Dust jacket.

Apple Records. Uncle Tomahawk hangs around the fort until he finds his own metaphor -- Boarding school philosophy, shorter, simplified edition: practical application -- Hello, my name is... -- Naming ceremony -- My grandmothers gain nicknames by relative proximity -- Little Umma reads the ethnographer's Rorschach cards -- Big Umma delivers a quick lesson in history and survival -- The red album. A note to those who know my family -- How Dog Street gets its name -- Early and late -- The spoiled brat -- I believe I find evidence that I am not an alien -- Official and unofficial covers -- My siblings try to find evidence I am not an alien -- What they leave us, when they leave us -- Metropolitan Stadium, August 21, 1965 -- From Iron Man to Skywalker: 1. Half this blood, half that -- Hunger test 1 -- Eel -- Tonto's Dog Street cousins -- Jaboozie gives me two lessons in tradition -- From Iron Man to Skywalker: 2. Tanned hide -- Wyatt Wingfoot gives us some four-color cosmic hope -- Hunger test 2 -- My brother quietly tries to wake us up -- Proving ground or baptism of fire -- I lose a ribbon shirt to bloodlines -- Jaboozie turns me on to Deep Cuts -- Mr. Dressup -- Metamorphoses -- Lucky -- The boy who fell to the rez -- From Iron Man to Skywalker: 3. Public assistance -- Wyatt Wingfoot ends up singing that same old song -- Stupid things I buy the summer I am 13 -- I leave formal training before this opportunity begins -- Hampton's shadow crosses over us again -- From Iron Man to Skywalker: 4. Devourer of worlds -- Disguise -- Masks unmasked -- In Spencer's, I become someone else for under ten dollars -- From Iron Man to Skywalker: 5. Amputation scars -- Reception -- Jeannie teaches me some moves I don't know -- How Jaboozie and I almost lose it -- From Iron Man to Skywalker: 6. Cliffhangers and disc jockeys -- Hunger test 3. Cumulative exam -- How to be less popular in high school when you are Indian and/or poor -- From Iron Man to Skywalker: 7. Clone Wars -- Electric blanket as ouija board in sixteen parts -- Jaboozie passes me the book -- Jaboozie's sister teaches me about fire -- Beneath the constellations, the smoke moves home -- Jaboozie and I love naked eyes -- Lines spoken to me through high school and, let's face it, beyond -- Migration -- May I have this dance? -- Jaboozie passes me the atlas to my future -- Dog Street. Side A. Come together ; Something ; Maxwell's silver hammer ; Oh! Darling ; Octopus's garden ; I want you (she's so heavy) -- Side B. Here comes the sun ; Because ; You never give me your money ; Sun king ; Mean Mr. Mustard ; Polythene Pam ; She came in through the bathroom window ; Golden slumbers ; Carry that weight ; The end -- Her Majesty -- Get back. Peel this skin -- Indian love call -- Are these tricks or are these treats? -- Legacy -- Everybody knows -- Poem to the beams in my uncle's house, empty these days -- My mother delivers a quick lesson in survival and history -- Domestic rate, Carlisle, PA, or a grandmother corresponds with her service-bound grandson -- Jaboozie brings my aunt home, unexpectedly -- Hunger test: primer revisited -- Making promises -- The ethnographer turns the Rorschach cards on himself -- "We had some good times anyway" -- The ethnographer leaves us a gift -- I gain a ribbon shirt in bloodlines -- Indian picnic cornbred -- Ash and smoke -- Howdy prepares for the future -- Lost (in translation) -- And on this day, we commence -- Dog Street, July 3, 2009 -- Lost and found on Dog Street -- On New Year's Eve, my sister sends me a photo -- Liner notes