The State of Kansas Notable Book Awards are presented annually for fifteen notable books created by writers, illustrators or book artists who are Kansans 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.
Process 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.
List of winners The Kansas Notable Book Award winners are listed in descending order by year, then in alphabetical order by title:
2025 Coco, Snow!, by Julie Mosiman and illustrated by Ellen Youngman Dress Me Like a Prizefighter, by Catherine Strayhall From the Reservation to Washington: The Rise of Charles Curtis, by Debra Goodrich In True Face: A woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked, by Jonna Mendez Las Madres: Latinas in the Heartland Who Led Their Family to Success, by Dennis Raphael Garcia The Last Rancher, by Robert Rebein The Lies We Conjure, by Sarah Henning No Bullet Got Me Yet: The Relentless Faith of Father Kapaun, by John Stansifer Not the Worst Friend in the World, by Anne Rellihan Outdoor Farm, Indoor Farm, by Lindsay H. Metcalf, illustrated by Xin Li Remnants of a Scarlet Flame, by Cindy L. Sell The Rhino Keeper, by Jillian Forsberg The Switch Point, by A. D. Childers Treehouse Town, by Gideon Sterer, illustrated by Kansan, Charlie Mylie Wichita Blues: Music in the African American Community, by Patrick Joseph O'Connor
2024 Abolitionist of the Most Dangerous Kind: James Montgomery and His War on Slavery, by Todd Mildfelt and David Schafer Daughter of Chaos, by Sarah Edgerton Doomed by Blooms, by Anna St. John Grief Said "Have a Seat", by Amanda G. Elsbury Henry, Like Always, by Jenn Bailey I've Been Fighting This War Within Myself, by Antonio Sanchez-Day and edited by Brian Daldorph Into the Sunset: Emmett Dalton and the End of the Dalton Gang, by Ian Shaw The Jayhawk: The Story of the University of Kansas's Beloved Mascot, by Rebecca Ozier Schulte Kansas City's Montgall Avenue: Black Leaders and the Street They Called Home, by Margie Carr Orion O'Brien and the Spirit of Quindaro, by Fran Borin Proclaiming the Good News: Mennonite Women's Voices, 1972-2006, by Lois Y. Barrett and Dorothy Nickel Friesen Red Rabbit, by Alex Grecian Roadside Geology of Kansas, by James S Aber, Susan E. W. Aber, and Michael J. Everhart We're Safe When We're Alone, by Nghiem Tran Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas, by Jim Minick
2023 Cabby Potts, Duchess of Dirt – Kathleen Wilford Easy Beauty: A Memoir – Chloé Cooper Jones Hell's Half-acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, America's First Serial Killer Family – Susan Jonusas Justa's Escape: A Journey from WWII Ukraine – Justina Neufeld with Russell Binkley Kansas Speaks Out: Poems in the Age of Me, Too – edited by Dennis Etzel, Jr and Jericho Hockett Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy – Randal Maurice Jelks The Monster's Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How It Shook Our World – David K. Randall Native American Stories for Kids: 12 Traditional Stories From Indigenous Tribes Across North America – T. F. Pecore Weso A New Guide to Kansas Mushrooms – Sherry Kay Nothing but the Dirt: Stories From An American Farm Town – Kate Guerriero Benz One Boy Watching – Grant Snider River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile – Candice Millard The Undead Truth of Us – Britney S. Lewis The Vagabond's Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel – Rolf Potts Winfield's Walnut Valley Festival – Seth Bate
2022 Ava: A Year of Adventure in the Life of an American Avocet – Mandy Kern and Onalee Nicklin Blue Collar Saint: Poems – Brenda Leigh White Field Journal: Volume XIII, 2021, The Santa Fe Trail – Symphony in the Flint Hills From This Moment: A Novel – Kim Vogel Sawyer The Greatest Thing: A Story About Buck O'Neil – Kristy Nerstheimer and Christian Paniagua Haven's Secret (The Powers Book 1) – Melissa Benoist, Jessica Benoist, and Mariko Tamaki How to Resist Amazon and Why – Danny Caine Killing Dragons: Order of the Dolphin – Kristie Clark Mad Prairie: Stories and a Novella – Kate McIntyre Policing Sex in the Sunflower State: The Story of the Kansas State Industrial Farm for Women – Nicole Perry Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains – Lucas Bessire Stormbreak: A Seafire Novel – Natalie C. Parker A Vote for Susanna: The First Woman Mayor – Karen M. Greenwald and Sian James White Hot Hate: A True Story of Domestic Terrorism in America's Heartland – Dick Lehr Words Is a Powerful Thing: Twenty Years of Teaching Creative Writing at Douglas County Jail – Brian Daldorph
2021 All Hallows' Shadow – Michael D. Graves The Amelia Six – Kristin L. Gray The Chicken Sisters – KJ Dell’Antonia Croaked!: The Misadventures of Nobbin Swill – Lisa Harkrader Farmers Unite!: Planting a Protest for Fair Prices – Lindsay H. Metcalf Ladybird, Collected – Meg Heriford Un Mango Grows in Kansas – Huascar Medina Mawson's Mission: Launching Women's Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Kansas – L. Marlene Mawson Northern Cheyenne Ledger Art by Fort Robinson Breakout Survivors – Denise Low and Ramon Powers People, Pride, and Promise: The Story of the Dockum Sit-in – Prisca Barnes and Priscella Brown Prairie Bachelor: The Story of a Kansas Homesteader and the Populist Movement – Lynda Beck Fenwick Premeditated Myrtle: A Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery – Elizabeth C. Bunce Swimming Shelter: Poems – Al Ortolani What Sound is Morning? – Grant Snider World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments – Aimee Nezhukumatathil
2020 Birds, Bones, and Beetles: The Improbable Career and Remarkable Legacy of University of Kansas Naturalist Charles D. Bunker – Charles H. Warner A Constellation of Roses – Miranda Asebedo Crumbled!: The Misadventures of Nobbin Swill – Lisa Harkrader Follow Me Down to Nicodemus Town – A. LaFaye and Nicole Tadgell Headwinds: A Memoir – Edna Bell-Pearson The Healer's Daughter: A Novel – Charlotte Hinger How to Be a Family: The Year I Dragged My Kids Around the World to Find a New Way to Be Together – Dan Kois Journey to a Promised Land: A Story of the Exodusters (I Am America) – Allison Lassieur Kansas City Chiefs Legends: The Greatest Coaches, Players and Front Office Execs in Chiefs History – Jeff Deters A Perfect Silhouette – Judith Miller Petroglyphs of the Kansas Smoky Hills – Rex C. Buchanan, Burke W. Griggs, Joshua L. Svaty The Reckless Oath We Made: A Novel – Bryn Greenwood Steel Tide: A Seafire Novel – Natalie C. Parker The Topeka School: A Novel – Ben Lerner What Color Is Night? – Grant Snider
2019 American Heart – Laura Moriarty Brown Enough: A Tale of a Mixed-Race Baseball Team Summer of ’56 – Ken Ohm Buried in the Suburbs – Jamie Lynn Heller The Deepest Roots – Miranda Asebedo The Diaries of Reuben Smith, Kansas Settler and Civil War Soldier – Lana Wirt Myers Eisenhower: Becoming the Leader of the Free World – Louis Galambos Elevations: A Personal Exploration of the Arkansas River – Max McCoy A Girl Stands at the Door: The Generation of Young Women Who Desegregated America's Schools – Rachel Devlin Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth – Sarah Smarsh Night Out – Daniel Miyares No Place Like Home: Lessons in Activism from LGBT Kansas – C.J. Janovy No Small Potatoes: Junius G. Groves and His Kingdom in Kansas – Tonya Bolden and Don Tate The Pastor Wears a Skirt: Stories of Gender and Ministry – Dorothy Nickel Friesen The Saint of Wolves and Butchers – Alex Grecian Seafire – Natalie C. Parker
2018 Bad Kansas: Stories – Becky Mandelbaum Cricket in the Thicket: Poems about Bugs – Carol Murray and Melissa Sweet Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West – Tom Clavin Feet of the Messenger: Poems – H.C. Palmer Fireflies in the Gathering Dark: Poems – Maril Crabtree Headlights on the Prairie: Essays on Home – Robert Rebeinsas Ike and McCarthy: Dwight Eisenhower's Secret Campaign Against Joseph McCarthy – David A. Nichols Kansas Baseball, 1858-1941 – Mark E. Eberle Kansas Guidebook 2 for Explorers – Marci Penner and WenDee Rowe The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery – Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James Midnight at the Electric – Jodi Lynn Anderson The Shape of Ideas: An Illustrated Exploration of Creativity – Grant Snider Stark Mad Abolitionists: Lawrence, Kansas, and the Battle over Slavery in the Civil War Era – Robert K. Sutton That is My Dream! – Langston Hughes and Daniel Miyares To The Stars Through Difficulties – Romalyn Tilghman
2017 Fast-Food Sonnets: Poems – Dennis Etzel Jr. Ghost Sign: Poems from White Buffalo – Al Ortolani, Melissa Fite Johnson, Adam Jameson, and J.T. Knoll Green City: How One Community Survived a Tornado and Rebuilt for a Sustainable Future – Allan Drummond Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill – Candice Millard Hurt People: A Novel – Cote Smith Ioway Life: Reservation and Reform, 1837-1860 – Greg Olson The Last Wild Places of Kansas: Journeys into Hidden Landscapes – George Frazier Lost and Gone Forever: A Novel of Scotland Yard's Murder Squad – Alex Grecian The Memory of Lemon: A Novel – Judith Fertig Mike Torrez: A Baseball Biography – Jorge Iber A Nest of Hornets – Robert Krenzel Never Enough Flamingos – Janelle Diller Phog: The Most Influential Man in Basketball – Scott Morrow Johnson Presenting Buffalo Bill: The Man Who Invented the Wild West – Candace Fleming The Small-Town Midwest: Resilience and Hope in the Twenty-First Century – Julianne Couch 2016 Alphabet School – Stephen T. Johnson A Bitter Magic – Roderick Townley Bottled: A Mom's Guide to Early Recovery – Dana Bowman The Boy Who Became Buffalo Bill: Growing Up Billy Cody in Bleeding Kansas – Andrea Warren Diary of a Waitress: The Not-So-Glamorous Life of a Harvey Girl – Carolyn Meyer For the Sake of Art: The Story of a Kansas Renaissance – Cynthia Mines Harvey Houses of Kansas: Historic Hospitality from Topeka to Syracuse – Rosa Walston Latimer Kansas Trail Guide: The Best Hiking, Biking, and Riding in the Sunflower State – Jonathan Conard and Kristin Conard Kansas Wildflowers and Weeds – Michael John Haddock, Craig C. Freeman, and Janet E. Bare The Madman and the Assassin: The Strange Life of Boston Corbett, the Man Who Killed John Wilkes Booth – Scott Martelle Notorious Kansas Bank Heists: Gunslingers to Gangsters – Rod Beemer Sun and Moon – Lindsey Yankey To Leave a Shadow – Michael D. Graves Twenty-Five Years Among the Indians and Buffalo: A Frontier Memoir – by William D. Street, edited by Warren R. Street While the Kettle's On – Melissa Fite Johnson
2015 999 Kansas Characters: Ad Astra, a Biographical Series – Dave Webb, Terry Rombeck, and Beccy Tanner Bluebird – Lindsey Yankey A Carol Dickens Christmas: A Novel – Thomas Fox Averill Chasing Weather: Tornadoes, Tempests, and Thunderous Skies in Word and Image – Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg and Stephen Locke The Darkest Period: The Kanza Indians and Their Last Homeland, 1846-1873 – Ronald D. Parks The Devil's Workshop: A Novel of Scotland Yard's Murder Squad – Alex Grecian Field Guide to the Common Grasses of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska – Iralee Barnard