The Year Money Grew on Trees written and illustrated by Aaron Hawkins 293 pages

Jackson Jones is challenged by a cantakerous neighbor to take care of her orchard of 300 apple trees. If he is able to make a profit of $8,000, he will prove himself a worthy steward of the orchard and she will turn a deed of the orchard over to him. Jackson is 13 years old and has never had any farming or gardening experience. His father has threatened to force him to spend his summer working at a local junk yard. With dreams of easy money for the picking, Jackson agrees to take the challenge. His last experience doing chores for his neighbor taught him the value of getting her offer validated by a lawyer. He quickly learns that this can not be a one boy operation and enlists the help of his cousins and sisters. This is Hawkins first book for kids but he writes from personal experience. He tended his family's orchard in New Mexico as a child. This is a heartwarming and educational story about a boy who bites off a job too big without consulting his parents and reluctant to quit. He learns what he needs to know by finding a helpful book in the school library (despite the "mean" librarian) and persistently asking a deacon at his church who also has an orchard. It is hard to believe that this is set in the 1980's -- especially since he is able to get so much help from his young relatives. One can't help but looking differently at an apple before biting into it after reading all the months of hard work it took Jackson to harvest his crop.