Publisher's Synopsis
It's the summer of 1988 near Paonia, Colorado. Thirteen-year-olds, Jake, Monty and Frijoles are helping their teacher study the Aspen grove at the foot of Lamborn Mountain. Aspen groves, known as quakies, are a single organism that can be thousands of years old and weigh thousands of tons. Mr. Maker believes these may be some of the oldest and largest ever recorded. This particular grove of quakies has a long and storied history that includes ancient shaman curses, and a deadly fire in 1929 that left many dead and two missing.
Jake and his buddies are excited to be out camping and fishing in the mountains until strange things happen that chill Jake to the core.
Are the quakies speaking? Are they playing mind games? Mr. Maker thinks it's all in Jake's imagination. After all, he assures the boys there's a logical explanation for everything. But when he mysteriously disappears, their summer of discovery becomes a journey into the surreal as they are cast into a mystery of historic proportions, and their lives and relationships are forever altered.
