Must-Read Books for Nature Lovers This Holiday Season

Author Gayle Brandeis has been recommending Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden (Simon & Schuster, 2024) by Camille T. Dungy to her patrons at Secret World Books, which opened in April in Highland Park.

“Dungy explores the process of rewilding her yard in Colorado while also delving into the painful history of the Black experience of American land,” says Brandeis, who owns the new store with her husband, Michael Brandeis.

The store offers a wide selection of books across genres, including a curated list for environmental and nature-loving readers. In this article, Brandeis, along with another local bookstore owner and a bookstore manager, shares ideas for holiday gift selections.

Brandeis says she enjoys Dungy’s work because she is a poet. “Her use of language is gorgeous in her prose,” Brandeis notes. “I’ve been pressing this book into a lot of people’s hands.”

“Dungy also edited the ground-breaking anthology Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry (University of Georgia Press, 2009), which also makes me think of another great book we carry, A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars (Milkweed Editions, 2023),” Brandeis adds.

 Another poet now writing breathtaking prose about the natural world is Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Brandeis relays. “Her book, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments (Milkweed Editions, 2020), is such a delight,” she says. “It’s a mix of personal writing and rhapsodic nature writing that reminds us what a truly wondrous world we live in—a world worth cherishing, protecting and healing.” 

The husband-and-wife duo had dreamed of opening a bookstore for years. When they found a building in Highland Park with a secret garden in the backyard, they knew it was the perfect spot.

“Michael and I are both nature lovers and environmentalists,” Brandeis shares. “It made perfect sense to carry nature and environment books inside the store to echo the secret garden outside and to further our desire to celebrate and protect our beautiful, beleaguered planet.”

Brandeis adds, “I’m also a huge fan of Sy Montgomery, and have learned so much about the more-than-human world from her, whether she’s writing about octopuses or pigs or tigers or other amazing creatures.”

Montgomery’s latest is Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell (Mariner Books, 2023).

“It is an especially moving offering,” Brandeis relays. “I love how she shares her experience working in a turtle hospital, and what she learned from these ancient beings (and those who care for them) about patience and courage and healing. This book feels like a balm for our times and reminds us that time is way more spacious than we can imagine.”

Brandeis also is excited about Robin Wall Kimmerer’s new book, The Serviceberry: Abundance andReciprocity in the Natural World (Scribner, 2024). Kimmerer is the author of the acclaimed Braiding Sweetgrass (Milkweed Editions, 2015).

“Braiding Sweetgrass is both a personal and store favorite,” Brandeis remarks. “I am thrilled we can all continue to learn from this gifted Indigenous writer and scientist. This book delves into the beauty and power of interconnection and generosity found in nature,” Brandeis adds. “We see our bookstore as a site of similarly open-hearted community.” 

The proprietor of Skunk Cabbage Books, a specialty bookstore in Chicago, is also eager to share Kimmerer’s new book with patrons. “I can’t wait to talk with everyone about the Braiding Sweetgrass author’s new book, which is a long-form essay about gift economies, reciprocity and the ways humans relate to the Earth,” says store owner Ren Dean. “This is a perfect gift to share with your friends and family who want to more intentionally recognize nature’s gifts and the ways we serve our more-than-human world in return.” 

 Another book customers have been loving is The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth (Harper, 2024) by Zoe Schlanger.

Dean says, “Schlanger digs into the lives of plants and the botanists that study them and thoughtfully takes us into the emerging science and ongoing debate among botanists on the subject of plant intelligence—how plants respond to and interact with their environments and play an active role in shaping our landscapes.”

Readers will learn that “some of the scientists she speaks to balk at this idea,” Dean continues. “They feel it’s inappropriate to map ideas of intelligence onto plants because they have their own evolutionary histories and behaviors that we should admire for the ways they’re different from other organisms. Others are pushing for us to reexamine the way we think about plants as lesser than us animals and want to give plants their credit for the true complexity of their worlds. It’s one of those science books that will make you see the world around you differently.”

The employees at Skunk Cabbage Books also love books that help humans to imagine different futures for ourselves, our communities and our planet,” Dean relays. One such book is Lifehouse (Verso Books, 2024) by Adam Greenfield.

“Greenfield brings us lessons from history to help us figure out how we can come together and build resilient communities in the face of climate disaster,” Dean explains. “As we’ve seen in western North Carolina over the last few weeks, it’s really the local people and their care for each other that gets us through times of emergency.” 

Another recommendation is The Backyard Bird Chronicles (Knopf, 2024) by Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club.

“Tan’s book on birds is a collection of writing and illustrations tracking the natural life and wonder that can come from our own backyards,” Dean observes. “We love to talk about the ways us city kids can find nature around us, and birds are the perfect connector for urban dwellers looking to practice slowing down and noticing the nature around us.”

For those wanting to learn how people around the world are helping nature, Dean recommends

We Will Be Jaguars (Abrams Books, 2024) by Nemonte Nenquimo. “This is a memoir from an Indigenous activist working to protect her people’s home in the Amazon,” Dean says. “Nenquimo is a member of the Waorani tribe in Ecuador. She has spearheaded an alliance of Indigenous nations across the Amazon to work together to protect the forest, and she writes about her childhood and traditional knowledge, the impact of missionaries on her community and her own history, and the fight to protect the Amazon.” 

Skunk Cabbage Books has a free drop-in, book-reading group called Wild Feathers, running monthly at 7:30 p.m. No RSVP is required; just drop in.

The latest book read by the club is Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains (HarperCollins Publishers, 2022) by Bethany Brookshire. “It’s a wild accounting of how humans decide some animals are fluffy neighbors and others are unwanted pests,” Dean says.

The Green Read, in Crystal Lake, and The Green Spot, in Woodstock, offer a wide range of gently used, donated books in a variety of genres, as well as sustainable gifts. Proceeds benefit the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County. One of the organization’s board members started an environmental-themed book club called the Nature Nerds several years ago. The club will discuss How Far the Light Reaches (Little, Brown and Company, 2022) by Sabrina Imbler on December 17.

 Among the group’s favorites was Beaver Land: How One Weird Rodent Made America (Twelve, 2022) by Leila Philip. “I had the pleasure of hearing her speak this spring,” says Pam Johnson, manager of the bookstores. “She was a fascinating speaker and a wealth of knowledge about beavers. Having had beavers several times in the retention pond behind our house, it was interesting to learn so much more about them.”

Johnson recently read and is recommending The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Henry Holt and Company, 2014) by Elizabeth Kolbert. “The author describes previous mass extinctions and presents the argument that we are currently in another extinction, one caused by mankind,” Johnson explains. “This book opened my eyes about how many previous extinctions the Earth has experienced. The only mass extinction I had been aware of before reading the book was the dinosaurs. I’m sure I’m not alone in this. The causes of extinctions and the examples she gives to support them are enlightening.”

Johnson adds, “This is a well-written book and well worth reading. It’s informative and educational while at the same time engaging and insightful.”

Sheryl DeVore has written six books on science, health and nature, as well as nature, health and environment stories for national and regional publications. Read more at SherylDeVore.WordPress.com.