What Makes a Good Ag Book?
Looking For A Good Book About Agriculture? Guest blogger Kevin Daugherty, the Education Director for the Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom program, writes what makes a good "ag" book.
What does a good 鈥榓g book鈥� look like? Honestly, it is almost easier to tell you what it isn鈥檛 instead of what it is! In my opinion an 鈥楢g Book鈥� isn鈥檛 about Agriculture. Instead, we look for books that accurately portray a story that features agriculture. If we wanted authors to write 鈥楢g Books鈥� we鈥檇 instead turn to our trusty farm periodicals and magazines.
Good Ag Books tell a story. , author of 鈥� and calls her discovery by the ag community an accident. She was writing passionately about George Washington and his love of nature and plants. She realized there were many books out there on Washington, but few portray him as a farmer. author of as well as does have an ag background, but her books, most importantly tell a story that connects ag to the general public.
We鈥檙e looking for the story, but we also look for accuracy.
Pigs in mud, old fashion 鈥榤ilk cans鈥�, antique tractor, and hand milking photos and references (in books set today) automatically go to the 鈥榥o thank you pile鈥�. Use of appropriate and accurate photos as well as terminology is appreciated. We find there is a place for illustrated books, but not depicting agriculture as a cartoon. Personification of animals is a tricky area. It depends on the subject. Can you deny the story of Wilbur in 鈥淐harlotte鈥檚 Web鈥�? It is a great book on friendship, but isn鈥檛 an 鈥榓g book鈥� nor do we promote it as such. I fall back on a comparison to the Disney Characters when dealing with personification, why are we all okay with Goofy being a character, but Pluto is a pet? Accuracy also means that artichokes aren鈥檛 popping up in Illinois fields, or oranges commercially harvested in the Dakotas. We look for a balance of subject matter (not all dairy cattle are Holsteins) and also ways to promote all of agriculture (don鈥檛 say one type of meat is better than another).
At the end of the day, taking all things into consideration, the goal of finding a good 鈥楢g Book鈥� means reading many books. Putting some down immediately, and coming back to others. Because teachers don鈥檛 have to teach agriculture, we instead look for ways to incorporate agriculture into what they might be teaching, and reading even more books. Stay tuned for what we are reading!
Looking for more and ag topics? Check out or search our Recommended Resource Database! You can look up books by topic and/or grade level.
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Kevin Daugherty is the Education Director for the Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom program. A former Junior High History and English Teacher, Daugherty also has background in curriculum development. Daugherty and his wife Katherine have three children and are active in the local community. Daugherty currently serves as the President of his local board of education. He has a stack of books at home, in the office and even in his van!
