Shaking the Tree

Shaking the Tree is the comical, yet dramatic coming-of-age tale of a young boy, Nicholas Havens, who makes a life-long friend in a straight-talking African American laborer named Sooter, while growing up in the hard life of a rural farming community.Nicholas Havens grew up quickly in rural 1960's Mississippi. By the age of twelve, he could drive a pickup and a cotton picker. Such was life as the son of a second generation cotton farmer. He was charged with doing much hard work but with little direction and parental guidance. That is until he meets Sooter, the straight-talking African-American laborer who worked for the Havens family all his life. Sooter's passion was the small pecan orchard that he maintained and harvested each fall. It is the orchard where Sooter and Nicholas form a lasting friendship in which the old man teaches Nicholas the ways of the orchard, as well as lessons in life. Shaking the Tree is the comical, yet dramatic coming-of-age tale of a young boy who makes a life-long friend while growing up in the hard life of a rural farming community.