The Year Money Grew on Trees

August 30, 2010
Thirteen-year-old Jackson will do anything to avoid working at the scrap yard this summer. So when his neighbor Mrs. Nelson suggests he care for her apple orchard, he agrees, despite reservations based on past dealings with her. They draw up a contract stating that Jackson will receive all profits above $8,000 and the deed to the orchard if she is satisfied with his work. He quickly realizes that the job is bigger than he ever imagined, so he persuades his cousins and sisters to help and share the potential profits (“By the end of that night, I had given away a large chunk of future apple money. It may have been more than 100 percent, but I was too afraid to add it up”). Set in New Mexico in the early 1980s, Hawkins’s children’s book debut is rich with details that feel drawn from memory (an engineering professor who worked on his family’s orchard as a child, Hawkins also contributes schematic line drawings), and Jackson’s narration sparkles. His hard work, setbacks, and motivations make this a highly relatable adventure in entrepreneurship. Ages 10–up.