James was born in the mid-forties, towards the end of World War II. He has lived in the Northwestern part of the United States for all of his sixty-five years. Watching his grandchildren grow and live lives very different from his has renewed his appreciation of his own childhood and the experiences he has recorded in "Apple Box Boy." His grandson, Skylar, still thinks Grandpa is pulling his leg when he tells his stories about growing up in the Yakima Valley of Washington State. It's a book about freedom, adventure, and character development of days gone by.