Book Club

Our Backyard Book Club reads nonfiction books related to your home, from the land right outside your door to the planet itself. Check out past issues of newsletters or subscribe below.

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Reading List

2025

JANUARY
The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot
Robert MacFarlane
Newsletter: “January: It’s Almost Over”

FEBRUARY
The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love
Kristin Kimball
Newsletter: “‘For Tea’ & Farm Dreams”

MARCH
The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Amy Tan
Newsletter: “The Chippy Times”

APRIL
The Milkweed Lands
Written by Eric Lee-Mäder and illustrated by Beverly Duncan
Newsletter: “The Magic of Milkweed… and Rabbits?”

MAY
You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World
Edited by Ada Limón
Newsletter: “Poetry & Parrots”

JUNE
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
Ed Yong
Newsletter: “The Bat & the Black Ghost Knife”

JULY
Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark
Leigh Ann Henion
Newsletter: “A Prescription for Darkness”

AUGUST
Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry
Austin Frerick
paired with
Bringing it to the Table: On Farming and Food
Wendell Berry
Newsletter: “Food for Thought”

SEPTEMBER
Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life
Ferris Jabr
Newsletter: “Watch Clouds, Touch (Prairie Dropseed) Grass”

OCTOBER
Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, Ourselves
Nicola Twilley
paired with
Extra! Extra! Eat All About It! Recipes and Culinary Curiosities from Historic Wisconsin Newspapers
Jane Conway and Randi Julia Ramsden
Newsletter: “Preparing & Preserving”

NOVEMBER
Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive
Eliot Stein

DECEMBER
The Lost Spells
Written by Robert Macfarlane and illustrated by Jackie Morris