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Stories of Kansas and the Great Plains
Children's Books about or set in Kansas

This selection of books set in or about Kansas spans over sixty years of publishing.  Many are
out of print, as indicated below.  Out-of-print titles may often be obtained through your local
library on Interlibrary Loan.   If you are interested in purchasing out-of-print books, try looking
for them on Amazon.com, which now also lists used copies of out of print books.

This list primarily covers fiction.  There are nonfiction titles published primarily as curriculum
support books which we have not chosen to include, and other nonfiction titles that could be of
interest.

If you know of titles not listed, please send email to: raven@ravenstonepress.com

Picture Books
Aunt Minnie and the Twister by Mary Skillings Prigger (April 2002)
Climbing Kansas Mountains by George Shannon (1993)
Heat Wave by Helen Ketteman (1998)
Johnny Kaw - The Pioneer Spirit of Kansas (Color edition 2011)
Kansas Tall Tales by Jerri Garretson (2008, includes Johnny Kaw, Kansas Katie and Twister Twyla)
The Loudest, Fastest, Best Drummer in Kansas by Marguerite W. Davol (2000)
The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller (1998)
Twister Twyla - The Kansas Cowgirl (2011)
Out of Print Titles
Cats for Kansas by Le Grand (1948)
Grandma Essie's Covered Wagon by David Williams (1993)
Johnny Kaw - The Pioneer Spirit of Kansas by Jerri Garretson (1997) (now included in Kansas Tall Tales, 2008)
Kansas Katie - A Sunflower Tale by Jerri Garretson (2000) (now included in Kansas Tall Tales, 2008)
Windwagon Smith by Ennis Rees (1966)

Easy Readers
Cabin in the Snow by Deborah Hopkinson (2002)
The Case of the Vanishing Cat by Dorothy Brenner Francis (2001)
Jayhawk Horse Mystery by Dorothy Brenner Francis (2001)
Pioneer Summer by Deborah Hopkinson (2002)
Prairie Skies: Our Kansas Home by Deborah Hopkinson (2003)
Wagon Wheels by Barbara Brenner (1978, 1993)

Children's Fiction
Airball: My Life in Briefs by Lisa Harkrader (2005)
As Far as I Can See: Meg's Diary, St. Louis to the Kansas Territory, 1856
   
(My America series) by Kate McMullan (2001)

Blue Creek Farm : A Matty Trescott Novel by Carroll Thomas (2000) 
Borderland Horse by Dorothy Brenner Francis (2001)
Friends and Enemies by Louann Gaeddert (2000)

Frontier Farmer: Kansas Adventure (Adventures in Frontier America)
     by Catherine E. Chambers (1998)

The Great Whale of Kansas by Richard W. Jennings (2001)
Hard Times on the Prairie by Melissa Peterson (1998)
     Adapted from Little House on the Prairie

Imagicat by Jerri Garretson (2000)
In the Face of Danger by Joan Lowery Nixon (1988) 
Jim-Dandy by Hadley Irwin (1994)
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
     (many editions in print; 1953 revised ed.) 
Riddle of the Prairie Bride (American Girl History Mysteries) by Kathryn Reiss (2001)
Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith (1957 - Newbery Winner)
Rose's Journal : The Story of a Girl in the Great Depression by Marissa Moss (2001)
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (1985)
The Secret of Whispering Springs by Jerri Garretson (2002)
Shiner and Baseball by Nolan Carlson (1999)
Shiner and King by Nolan Carlson (1998)
Shiner's Return by Nolan Carlson (1995)
Slickfester Dude Tells Bedtime Stories : Life Lessons From Our Animal Friends
     by Carol Duerksen (1997)
Soon Be Free by Lois Ruby (2000)
Steal Away Home by Lois Ruby (1994)
Summer and Shiner by Nolan Carlson (1992)
The Summer of the Crow by Eunice Boeve (2001)
SURVIVAL! Train Wreck , Kansas, 1892 by Kathleen Duey (1999)
Those Miller Girls by Alberta Wilson Constant (1965)
Twister on Tuesday by Mary Pope Osborne (2001)  (Magic Tree House #23)
The Van Gogh Cafe by Cynthia Rylant (1995)
The Victory Garden by Lee Kochenderfer (2002)
Willow Chase, Kansas Territory, 1847 by Kathleen Duey (1997)
The Wind Wagon by Celia Barker Lottridge (1995)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (many editions)
Out-of-print titles
Before the Lark by Irene Bennett Brown (1982)
     (Large print version may be published in 2002)

Does Anybody Care About Lou Emma Miller? by Alberta Wilson Constant (1979) 
Flint Hills Foal by Dorothy Brenner Francis (1976)
Freedom Trail by Jeanne Williams (1973)
Indian Softball Summer, or, "Kickapoos Never Say Good-bye"
     by Ronald G. Bliss (1974)
The Magic Dolls by Charline Bockhold Kay (1976)
Miriam's Dilemma by Donna Adee (1998)
The Motoring Millers by Alberta Wilson Constant (1969)
Moxie by Phyllis Rossiter (1990)
Mr. Yowder and the Windwagon by Glen Rounds (1983)
The Promised Land by Isabelle Holland (1996)
Ozma and the Wayward Wand by Polly Berrien (1985)
Pig-Out Inn by Lois Ruby (1987)
The Sod House by Elizabeth Coatsworth (1967)
The Sodbuster Venture by Charlene Joy Talbot (1982)
A Son of John Brown by Charles Henry Lerrigo (1937)
Those Miller Girls by Alberta Wilson Constant (1965)
When Windwagon Smith Came to Westport by Ramona Maher (1977)
Winter Wheat by Jeanne Williams (1975)

Young Adult Fiction
The Brute by Mike Klaassen (2005)
Dust in the Wind by Donald J. Richardson (2001)
Gross-hoppers! by David Jacobs (1996) (horror)
Lightning in a Drought Year by Michelle Black (2000)
The Monument by Gary Paulsen (1991)
Rain Is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith (June 2001)
The Secret of Whispering Springs by Jerri Garretson (2002)
Out-of-print titles
The Courtship of Miriam by Donna Adee (1998)
Dove Dream by Hendle Rumbaut (1994)
Foal Creek by Peter Cohen (1972)
Miriam and Timothy Face Life by Donna Adee (2000)  (Not sure of out of print status)

Nonfiction
Black Pioneers: An Untold Story by William Loren Katz (1999)
Color Kansas Characters by Phillip R. Buntin, (Kansas Heritage Center)
Deadly Days in Kansas by Wayne C. Lee (1997)
Dwight D. Eisenhower: A Kansas Boy of Good Character by Linda Duncan (2001)
Homesteading on The Plains: Daily Life in the Land of Laura Ingalls Wilder
     by Mary Dodson Wade, 1997.  Includes Kansas among the locations.
Indians in Kansas : Illustrated Articles and Posters on Kansas Native Indian Tribes
     by Dave Webb, Leo E. Olivia and Phil Buntin (1987)
399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb (1992)
Tragic Prelude: Bleeding Kansas by Karen Zeinert (2001)
Out-of-print titles
Going Home to Nicodemus:
     The Story of an African American Frontier Town and the Pioneers Who Settled It
      by Daniel Chu (1994)

Kansas links

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Our Books     |     Izzie     |    Johnny Kaw    |     Imagicat     |    Kansas Katie
Kansas Tall Tales     |     The Secret of Whispering Springs     |     Trespassing Time Twister Twyla
Books Set in Kansas     |    Links
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Last updated on October 9,  2011