Michigan Notable Books

Every year, the Library of Michigan selects up to twenty of the most notable books, either written by a Michigan resident or about Michigan or the Great Lakes. The selected books are honored in the year after their publication or copyright date. Each selected title speaks to our state's rich cultural, historical, and literary heritage and proves without a doubt that some of the greatest stories are found in the Great Lakes State.


Updated January 31, 2025
Upper Peninsula Region of Library Cooperation
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The lady with the dark hair : a novel
Bartels, Erin
Paper Book
2025 Michigan Notable Book "Bartels perfectly meshes the stories of two women, both artists, living half a world and nearly a century-and-a-half apart. Bartels' settings and historical details are unusual and compelling; the dual time lines work perfectly, and this well...
I cheerfully refuse : a novel
Enger, Leif
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A BARNES & NOBLE BOOK CLUB PICK * A career defining tour-de-force from New York Times bestselling, award-winning and "formidably gifted" (Chicago Tribune) author of Peace Like a River Leif Enger. "A rare, remarkable...
My black country : a journey through country music's black past, present, and future
Randall, Alice
Paper Book
Alice Randall, award-winning professor, songwriter, and author presents "a celebration of all things country music" (Ken Burns) as she reflects on her search for the first family of Black country music. Country music had brought Alice Randall and her activist mother together and...
Funny story
Henry, Emily
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ∙ A shimmering, joyful novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry. A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2024 Named a Must-Read Book of 2024 by...
Old Time Hawkey's Recipes from the Cedar Swamp : A Cookbook
Old Time Hawkey.
Paper Book
Well hello, buddy. Old Time Hawkey, aka Fritz, starts every video by greeting his followers in his soothing voice. He is always there to offer a hot apple cider or an ice cream sundae on a tough day, to help his followers drift off to sleep with a story or a retro video game.
Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick! A Printz Medal AND Morris Award Winner! Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
The luminous life of Lucy Landry
Johnson, Anna Rose
Paper Book
Lucy, a spirited French-Ojibwe orphan, is sent to the stormy waters of Lake Superior to live with a mysterious family of lighthouse-keepers--and, she hopes, to find the legendary necklace her father spent his life seeking... Selena Lucy Landry (named for a ship, as every sailor's...
True Gretch : what I've learned about life, leadership, and everything in between
Whitmer, Gretchen
Paper Book
From trailblazing Michigan governor, Democratic leader, and national advocate for women's rights, Gretchen Whitmer, comes an unconventional and deeply personal account of her life and career--"Not your nana's ponderous political memoir" (New York magazine)--offering insights into her...
The waters : a novel
Campbell, Bonnie Jo
Paper Book
On an island in the Great Massasauga Swamp--an area known as "The Waters" to the residents of nearby Whiteheart, Michigan--herbalist and eccentric Hermine "Herself" Zook has healed the local women of their ailments for generations. As stubborn as her tonics are powerful, Herself inspires...
Warrior girl unearthed
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times bestseller! A #1 Indies Bestseller! Six Starred Reviews! #1 New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper's Daughter Angeline Boulley takes us back to Sugar Island in this high-stakes thriller about the power of discovering your stolen...
Everything I learned, I learned in a Chinese restaurant : a memoir
Chin, Curtis
Paper Book
This "vivid, moving, funny, and heartfelt" memoir tells the story of Curtis Chin's time growing up as a gay Chinese American kid in 1980's Detroit (Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers). Nineteen eighties Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven:...
Tom Lake : a novel
Patchett, Ann
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America's finest writers. "Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than...
In the Upper Country
Thomas, Kai
Paper Book
*NATIONAL BESTSELLER* *WINNER OF THE 2023 WRITER'S TRUST ATWOOD GIBSON PRIZE* SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOVERNER GENERAL'S AWARD FOR FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE AMAZON CANADA FIRST NOVEL AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE RAKUTEN KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE ...
In the upper country
Thomas, Kai
Paper Book
*NATIONAL BESTSELLER* *WINNER OF THE 2023 WRITER'S TRUST ATWOOD GIBSON PRIZE* SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOVERNER GENERAL'S AWARD FOR FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE AMAZON CANADA FIRST NOVEL AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE RAKUTEN KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE ...
The rediscovery of America : native peoples and the unmaking of U.S. history
Blackhawk, Ned
Paper Book
National Bestseller Winner of the 2023 National Book Award in Nonfiction * Finalist for the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Award in History * Winner of 2024 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Nonfiction * Winner of the 2024 Mark Lynton History Prize ...
Isaiah Dunn is my hero
Baptist, Kelly J.
Paper Book
A coming-of-age tale about a boy who discovers a love of poetry after finding his late father's journal. Adapted from a story that first appeared in Flying Lessons & Other Stories and perfect for fans of The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson. Isaiah is now the...
Love radio
LaDelle, Ebony
Paper Book
"Readers won't be able to get enough of these dope-ass characters." --Elizabeth Acevedo, author of Clap When You Land Hitch meets The Sun Is Also a Star in this "mega swoon-worthy, effortlessly cool" (Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling...
Ancestor approved : intertribal stories for kids
Smith, Cynthia Leitich
Audiobook
Edited by award-winning and bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of community, and Native pride. Native families from Nations across the continent gather at...
Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick! A Printz Medal AND Morris Award Winner! Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline.
Paper Book
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick! A Printz Medal AND Morris Award Winner! Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
From a whisper to a rallying cry : the killing of Vincent Chin and the trial that galvanized the Asian American movement
Yoo, Paula
Audiobook
America in 1982: Japanese car companies are on the rise and believed to be putting U.S. autoworkers out of their jobs. Anti-Asian American sentiment simmers, especially in Detroit. A bar fight turns fatal, leaving a Chinese American man, Vincent Chin, beaten to death at the hands of two white men,...
Early morning riser
Heiny, Katherine
Paper Book
Alternately bittersweet and laugh-out-loud funny, a wise, bighearted novel of love, disaster, and unconventional family--from the acclaimed author of Standard Deviation, who has been called the "literary descendant of Jane Austen, sharing Austen's essentially comic world view" (NPR). ...
Ancestor approved Intertribal stories for kids
Smith, Cynthia Leitich.
Audiobook
Edited by award-winning and bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of community, and Native pride. Native families from Nations across the continent gather at...

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