The State of Kansas Notable Book Awards are presented annually for fifteen notable books created by writers, illustrators or book artists who are Kansans and/or have written about Kansas. The award, originally established in 2006, is organized by the Kansas Center for the Book (KCFB).
Winning authors include Clare Vanderpool, Rolf Potts, Ben Lerner, Candice Millard, and Gordon Parks.
The KCFB is a state affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. It is a program of the State Library of Kansas.
A committee of KCFB affiliates and fellows, together with authors of previous Notable Books, identifies notable titles from among those published the previous year, and the State Librarian makes the selection for the final list of fifteen. A reception and medal awards ceremony are held to honor the books and their authors and illustrators.
Following are the Kansas Notable Book Award winners, listed in alphabetical order by title:
Biting Through the Skin: An Indian Kitchen in America's Heartland – Nina Mukerjee FurstenauThe Black Country – Alex GrecianBleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri: The Long Civil War on the Border – Jonathan Earle & Diane Mutti Burke, Eds.A Death at Crooked Creek: The Case of the Cowboy, the Cigarmaker, and the Love Letter – Marianne WessonDragging Wyatt Earp: A Personal History of Dodge City – Robert RebeinEchoes from the Prairie: A Collection of Short Memoirs – Nicole Muchmore, Ed.Edmund G. Ross: Soldier, Senator, Abolitionist – Richard A. RuddyThe Good Lord Bird – James McBrideNavigating Early – Clare VanderpoolNeedle in the Bone – Caryn Mirriam-GoldbergOf Grave Concern: An Ophelia Wylde Paranormal Mystery – Max McCoyTeatime to Tailgates: 150 Years at the K-State Table – Jane P. MarshallThe Thing About Luck – Cynthia KadohataThe Tie That Bound Us: The Women of John Brown’s Family – Bonnie Laughlin-SchultzWorth the Pain: How Meningitis Nearly Killed Me - Then Changed My Life for the Better – Andy MarsoThe Adventures of Beanboy – Lisa HarkraderBeyond Cold Blood: The KBI from Ma Barker to BTK – Larry WelchBlackbear Bosin: Keeper of the Indian Spirit – David SimmondsThe Chaperone – Laura MoriartyThe Dust Bowl: An Illustrated History – Dayton Duncan & Ken BurnsEisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward SmithFrontier Manhattan: Yankee Settlement to Kansas Town, 1854–1894 – Kevin G. W. OlsonA Kansas Bestiary – Jake Vail & Doug Hitt, and illustrated by Lisa GrossmanMay B. – Caroline Starr RoseThis Ecstasy They Call Damnation – Israel WassersteinTime's Shadow: Remembering a Family Farm in Kansas – Arnold J. BauerTo the Stars Through Difficulties: A Kansas Renga in 150 Voices – Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ed.A Voice for Kanzas – Debra McArthurWide Open – Larry BjornsonThe Yard – Alex Grecian8 Wonders of Kansas! – Marci PennerThe Afterlives of Trees – Wyatt TownleyAmelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart – Candace FlemingBent Road – Lori RoyDestiny of the Republic: a Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President – Candice MillardDoc – Mary Doria RussellThe Door in the Forest – Roderick TownleyLiar's Moon – Elizabeth C. BunceMy Ruby Slippers: The Road Back to Kansas – Tracy SeeleyThe Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory – Ramon Powers & James N. LeikerOsa and Martin: For the Love of Adventure – Kelly EnrightPrairie Fire: A Great Plains History – Julie CourtwrightRode – Thomas Fox AverillSend Me Work: Stories – Katherine KarlinTapped Out: Rear Naked Chokes, the Octagon, and the Last Emperor: an Odyssey in Mixed Martial Arts – Matthew PollyAmy Barickman's Vintage Notions – Amy BarickmanAnd Hell Followed With It – Bonar MenningerAppetite for America – Stephen FriedBaking With Friends – Sharon Davis & Charlene PattonBound – Antonya NelsonCrossing the Tracks – Barbara StuberA Distant Home – George ParisFlyover People – Cheryl UnruhGhost Stories of the New West – Denise LowLife in a Jar – Jack MayerMoon Over Manifest – Clare VanderpoolA Prairie Peter Pan – Beverley O. BullerPrairie Rhythms – Lana Wirt MyersThe Scent of Rain and Lightning – Nancy PickardStar Crossed – Elizabeth C. BunceAddie of the Flint Hills: A Prairie Child During the Depression – Adaline Sorace, as told to Deborah Sorace PrutzmanThe Blue Shoe: A Tale of Thievery, Villainy, Sorcery, and Shoes – Roderick Townley, and illustrated by Mary GrandPreCarter Finally Gets It – Brent CrawfordThe Evolution of Shadows – Jason Quinn MalottGhost Town – Richard W. JenningsA Kansas Year – Mike BlairLisa's Flying Electric Piano – Kevin RabasNothing Right: Short Stories – Antonya NelsonOne Kansas Farmer: A Kansas Number Book – Devin Scillian & Corey ScillianOur Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen – Joe DrapeSilver Shoes – Paul Miles SchneiderThe Storm in the Barn – written and illustrated by Matt PhelanTo the Stars: Kansas Poets of the Ad Astra Poetry Project – Denise Low, Ed.Under Siege!: Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg – Andrea WarrenYears of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl – Albert MarrinAmelia Earhart: the Legend of the Lost Aviator – Shelley Tanaka, and illustrated by David CraigArtfully Done Across Generations – RoxAnn Banks Dicker, Ed.Burn – Kathleen JohnsonCharlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam – Pope BrockA Curse Dark as Gold – Elizabeth C. BunceThe Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hot Spots – Bob Gress & Pete JanzenHometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate – Kelly Alexander & Cynthia HarrisKansas Opera Houses: Actors and Community Events 1855–1925 – Jane Glotfelty RhoadsMaking History: Quilts & Fabric From 1890–1970 – Barbara BrackmanMarco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer – Rolf PottsThe Nature of Kansas Lands – Beverley Worster, Ed.A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir – Donald WorsterThe Pizza Hut Story – Robert SpectorSeeding Civil War: Kansas in the National News, 1854–1858 – Craig MinerSurvival of Rural America: Small Victories and Bitter Harvests – Richard E. WoodAmerican Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China – Matthew PollyThe Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians – illustrated by Brad SneedCan I Keep My Jersey? 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond – Paul ShirleyThe Curse of Catunkhamun – Tim RaglinThe Farther Shore – Matthew EckFrom Emporia: The Story of William Allen White – Beverley O. BullerHellfire Canyon – Max McCoyHunger for the Wild: America's Obsession with the Untamed West – Michael L. JohnsonThe Kitchen Sink: New and Selected Poems, 1972–2007 – Albert GoldbarthA Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution – David A. NicholsThe Middle of Somewhere – J.B. CheaneyThe Rest of Her Life – Laura MoriartySea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep – Michael J. EverhartStorm Chaser: A Photographer's Journey – Jim ReedWriting in an Age of Silence – Sara ParetskyEighteen notable books were selected in 2007, the only year in which it was not a list of fifteen.
Afoot: A Tale of the Great Dakota Turkey Drive – George BrandsbergAngle of Yaw – Ben LernerBallots and Bullets: The Bloody County Seat Wars of Kansas – Robert K. DeArmentFlint Hills Cowboys: Tales From the Tallgrass Prairie – James HoyI'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You – Ally CarterJohn Brown to Bob Dole: Movers and Shakers in Kansas – Virgil Dean, Ed.John Steuart Curry: The Road Home – Alice BertelsKansas Murals: A Traveler's Guide – Lora Jost & Dave LoewensteinLight on Main Street: Storytelling by a Country Newspaper Editor – Rudy TaylorThe Loose Change of Wonder – Steven HindMy Little Yellow Taxi – Stephen JohnsonNext Year Country: Dust to Dust in Western Kansas, 1890–1940 – Craig MinerNot Afraid of Dogs – Susanna PitzerOgallala Blue: Water and Life on the High Plains – William AshworthRevolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights – Diane EickhoffShanghai Shadows – Lois RubyThe Virgin of Small Plains – Nancy PickardWords of a Prairie Alchemist – Denise LowAirball: My Life in Briefs – L.D. HarkraderCapote in Kansas: A Drawn Novel – Ande ParksThe Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth, and the Great American Tragedy – Thomas GoodrichDeputy Harvey and the Ant Cow Caper – Brad SneedThe Great Blues – Steve SemkenA Hungry Heart: A Memoir – Gordon ParksIn the Small, Small Night – Jane KurtzJohn Brown, Abolitionist – David S. ReynoldsThe Kansas Guidebook for Explorers – Marci PennerMaggie Rose and Sass – Eunice BoeveThe Moon Butter Route – Max YohoOceans of Kansas: A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea – Michael J. EverhartOrdinary Genius – Thomas Fox AverillWildflowers and Grasses of Kansas: A Field Guide – Michael John HaddockThe Youngest Brother: On a Kansas Wheat Farm During the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression – C. Hugh Snyder
