About Micah Tree Books
In early 2023 I approached Rick Nass with the thought of writing this book. At the time, the company where I am the Director of Marketing was going through a large expansion so I let Rick know that this just needed to be a fun thing we could think about and not something that I could make a big deal or priority in my life.
On January 6th of ’24, our first grandchild was born. Micah Elizabeth Hackbarth was a beautiful little gem that brought much joy into many lives! At the end of January, we lost Micah to a very rare double leukemia. As you can imagine, and I am sure many will intimately know, this experience redirected many things in my thinking and life. Micah Tree Books has been formed in honor of Micah and the impact she has had on my life. There is much more to Micah’s story, but it involves many people and is wonderful, difficult, & sensitive all at the same time.
One thing that is driving my vision for this venture is the power and benefit of real human connection. We are currently at the dawn of the next massive personal and cultural impact of technological development. The last 20 years has seen some wonderful benefits from advancement. But, that advancement has also carried a level of cost related to human connection. At the very least, I would like to develop this publishing company on the basis of encouraging and facilitating real and meaningful connections with people.
Steve Hackbarth
Owner/Author – Micah Tree Books, LTD
Micah with Grandpa Steve. The name Micah Elizabeth means “Who Is Like God, My God is my oath & abundance”
The First Title
Burnham McGee and The Honey Tree is a story that I made up for my children over twenty years ago. The name ‘Burnham McGee’ popped into my head as combination of a local subdivision “Burnham Woods” and a radio preacher I listened to quite a bit while I was in my early twenties “J. Vernon McGee”.
The particular set of skills that Burnham has with his angry face came about because I seemed to be able to get a few laughs from the kids when making bizarre faces at them. The story itself came to my mind as a possible origin for a popular childhood poem. (No spoilers 
).
(After the book was published, I did a Google search for the title and was pleasantly surprised to see one of the top results was J. Vernon McGee, I hadn’t listened to his program for years!)
My kids laughed at this when they were little. Go figure. Sorry if you find it disturbing…