CurriConnects Book List - Kansas
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Kansas
This carefully organized collection presents books about the state of Kansas across three age-appropriate reading levels, and most include Lexile measures to support selecting books suitable for diverse learners. Each title features a concise description of its content, helping teachers, librarians, and families connect readers with compelling stories about Kansas’s people, landscape, and life.
Picture Books
A Vote for Susanna: The First Woman Mayor - Karen M. Greenwald, (978-0807553138), Non-fiction
Interest level: 1-5, Lexile: 590
When Kansas granted women the right to vote in municipal elections in 1887, some men in Argonia tried to make a mockery of it by putting Susanna Salter on the ballot as a joke — only to watch her win. Narrated by a grandmother who witnessed the historic election, this true story celebrates the woman who became the first female mayor elected in the United States.
Cabin in the Snow - Deborah Hopkinson, (978-0689843518), Fiction
Interest level: 1-4, Lexile: 580
A young boy must take care of his family during a wicked Kansas blizzard in the absence of his father. With no one else to rely on, the daydream-prone boy must prove his maturity by keeping his mother, sisters, and newborn baby brother safe in their isolated cabin.
Follow Me Down to Nicodemus Town - A. LaFaye, (978-0807525357), Fiction
Interest level: PreK-3, Lexile: 780
Dede’s family leaves their life as sharecroppers in the South for a fresh start as pioneers in Nicodemus, Kansas. Inspired by the remarkable true history of Nicodemus, a town established in the late 1870s by formerly enslaved people seeking freedom from the Jim Crow South.
Green City: How One Community Survived a Tornado and Rebuilt for a Sustainable Future - Allan Dummond, (978-0374379995), Non-fiction
Interest level: PreK-3, Lexile: 770
Greensburg, Kansas, rebuilds to be environmentally sustainable after a devastating tornado in 2007. Told from a child's perspective, this inspiring story captures a community's determination to turn tragedy into an opportunity to go green.
No Small Potatoes: Junius G. Groves and His Kingdom in Kansas - Tonya Bolden, (978-0385752763), Non-fiction
Interest level: PreK-4, Lexile: 920
Junius George Groves was known as the “Potato King of the World”. Born into slavery, he gained freedom after the Civil War and walked to Kansas during the Exodus of 1879 and built a potato empire.
S is for Sunflower: A Kansas Alphabet - Devin Scillian, (978-1585360611), Non-fiction
Interest level: K-2
This book features everything (and everyone) that makes Kansas special.
Wagon Wheels - Barbara Brenner, (978-1430108078), Fiction
Interest level: 2-4, Lexile: 500
An African American family moves to Kansas to claim land through the Homestead Act, facing the loss of their mother and a brutal winter, before their father must leave to find better farmland. Left alone, the two older boys — ages 11 and 8 — care for their toddler brother until a letter from their father arrives with a map, prompting the three boys to embark on a 150-mile journey on foot to reunite with him.
Middle Grade Books
100 Cupboards - N.D. Wilson, (978-0375838828), Fiction
Interest level: 3-8, Lexile: 650
Henry and his cousin Henrietta explore hidden doors and passageways in an attic in Henry's new home in Kansas. After his bold cousin ventures through one of the doors, Henry must summon his courage and follow her into the unknown.
Caleb's Story - Patricia MacLachlan, (978-0064405904), Fiction
Interest level: 2-6, Lexile: 570
When a mysterious man appears on the farm, Caleb and his sister Cassie must help their father confront a long-buried secret from his past to find a way toward forgiveness.
Moon over Manifest - Clare Vanderpool, (978-0375858291), Fiction
Interest level: 3-7, Lexile: 800
When Abilene Tucker's father sends her to spend the summer in Manifest, Kansas, she expects little from the worn-out town — until she uncovers a hidden cigar box of old letters hinting at a mysterious spy known as the Rattler. As the mysteries unravel one by one, Abilene discovers that her father's own history is woven into the heart of Manifest — and begins to find her place in its story too.
Out of Patience - Brian Meehl, (978-0440420903), Fiction
Interest level: 4-8, Lexile: 770
Jake thinks his small town in Kansas is the pits until he interacts with a cursed toilet plunger in this humorous novel.
Riddle of the Prairie Bride - Kathryn Reiss, (978-1607544203), Fiction
Interest level: 3-7, Lexile: 800
When Ida Kate's father greets his mail-order bride in 1878, something tells Ida that this may not be the woman he selected.
The Amelia Six - Kristin Gray, (978-1534418868), Fiction
Interest level: 3-7, Lexile: 570
A group of girls spends the night in Amelia Earhart’s childhood home and finds themselves in the middle of a robbery. The girls team up to find Earhart’s missing goggles and solve the case.
The Van Gogh Cafe - Cynthia Rylant, (978-0152057503), Fiction
Interest level: 3-7, Lexile: 810
At the Van Gogh Cafe in Flowers, Kansas, magic is always on the menu — from food that cooks itself to poems that predict the future. This award-winning collection of vignettes follows Clara, whose father owns the enchanting cafe, through a series of wonderfully unexpected moments.
Young Adult and Adult Books
Before Dorothy - Hazel Gaynor, (978-0593440339), Fiction
Interest level: YA
Before she was swept away to Oz, Dorothy came to live with her Aunt Emily and Uncle Henry in Kansas. Told through the eyes of a young girl navigating life on the windswept Kansas prairie, the novel weaves together themes of imagination, hardship, and the enduring power of dreaming of something more.
Dark Places - Gillian Flynn, (978-0307341570), Fiction
Interest level: YA
Libby survives a horrible attack that leaves her mother and two sisters dead. She testifies that her brother committed the crime. Twenty-five years later, a society obsessed with true crime finds her and tries to get her to remember details to free her brother.
Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth - Sarah Smarsh, (978-1501133107), Non-fiction
Interest level: YA
Born into generations of Kansas wheat farmers and teen mothers, Sarah Smarsh provides a raw, essential look at the American working class. Through her turbulent 1980s childhood west of Wichita, she examines the systemic barriers of poverty—from lack of healthcare to unsafe labor—while challenging the class myths that define the "Heartland."
Kansas Bleeds - Melody Groves, (978-1410472373), Fiction
Interest level: YA
This historical western follows Luke Colton as he defies his Union-sympathizing family to ride with Quantrill’s Raiders during the Civil War. The story captures the brutal border warfare of the era, focusing on Luke's internal conflict and eventual realization of the true cost of his choices during the infamous raid on Lawrence, Kansas.
The Good Lord Bird - James McBride, (978-1594632785), Fiction
Interest level: YA
Henry Shackleford was enslaved in the Kansas Territory in 1856 when John Brown, the famous abolitionist, came into town. After an argument with Henry’s master, both men had to leave Kansas.
The Persian Pickle Club - Sandra Dallas, (978-1250054333), Non-fiction
Interest level: YA
In 1930s Kansas, a group of women meets weekly to help one another through the hard times of the Great Depression. A new member joins and unearths a secret, and the women band together to support one another through the scandal.