Being a judge for book awards was not on my radar. Surprisingly, because, you know, books are my thing. It’s right there in my blog handle: A Cook and Her Books. Well, truth be told, I read more than cookbooks. Increasingly, I read gardening books to learn more about this fascinating subject. Here’s the thing about gardening, and I think it’s somewhat true of cooking as well: You can study gardening all your life and still learn something new every day.
Last fall, I got the garden book reader’s dream gig.
The American Horticultural Society reached out and asked if I would be interested in serving as a judge for its book awards committee. This would mean that beginning around Thanksgiving and continuing through New Year’s Eve, I could expect several dozen gardening books to arrive at my door.
First thought: Did you say free books delivered to my door and I get to read them and talk about them?
Second thought: Where do I sign up?
Reading Books with Purpose
And so it went, all through the busyness of the holidays, UPS and Fedex dropped off boxes of books at my doorstep. Unboxing books is a delightful thing, by the way. I unwrapped surprise and delight with every box and piled books according to my criteria. Pretty cover, appealing subject, expert writer.
Throughout the shortest days of the year, I curled up by the fireplace with a cup of tea, a stack of gardening books, and the AHS rubric for evaluating books. This was serious business.
In January, the committee met over Zoom to discuss our evaluations of the books. All books honored with the AHS Book Award must receive a unanimous vote from the 7-person panel. Honorable mentions required a simple majority vote.
The books our judging panel selected for honors are outstanding examples of the art of gardening books. They’re expertly written, skillfully designed and filled with high-quality images and graphics. Additionally, we considered the care that the publisher put into the publication. The award, after all, is shared by the publisher and the author.
American Horticultural Society Book Award Winners 2024
The winning book selections for 2024 are:
Dry-Climate Gardening
by Noelle Johnson (Cool Springs Press)
The Seven-Step Homestead
by Leah M. Webb (Storey Publishing)
Tiny + Wild: Build a Small-Scale Meadow Anywhere
by Graham Laird Gardner (Cool Springs Press)
The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook
by Susan Mulvihill (Cool Springs Press)
Honorable Mentions:
Edible Houseplants by Laurelynn G. Martin and Byron E. Martin (Storey Publishing)
Firescaping Your Home by Adrienne Edwards and Rachel Schleiger (Timber Press)
Flower Bugs by Angella Moorehouse (Pollination Press)
Prairie Up by Benjamin Vogt (3 Fields Books)
Wildscape by Nancy Lawson (Princeton Architectural Press)
Each of these books is inspirational and informative, and well worth your time and dollars. Several are useful field guides that you will use in the garden for years.
Check out American Horticultural Society’s post on the book awards.
For my readers: have you read any of these books? Let me know your favorites in the comments.
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