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 October 11, 2023
Upper Peninsula Region of Library Cooperation
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Everything is just beginning : a novel
Bartels, Erin
Paper Book
A 2024 Michigan Notable Book *** An Immersive Story of Music, Struggle, and Starting Over from an Award-Winning Author Michael Sullivan is a talented lyricist and a decent guitarist, but since he was kicked out of his band (and his apartment), he's not sure he'll...
Warrior girl unearthed
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times bestseller! A #1 Indies Bestseller!A Publisher's Lunch Best YA of 2023! An Amazon Best Book of the Year!Winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award!A Horn Book Fanfare Title! A BookPage Best...
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...
White Stripes complete lyrics : 1997-2007
White, Jack
Paper Book
The White Stripes Complete Lyrics is a deluxe new 300+ page hardbound book documenting all of Jack White's original words written for the 6x Grammy Award-winning duo he and Meg White formed in 1997 through the release of their final album...
In the Upper Country
Thomas, Kai
Paper Book
Winner of the 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize The fates of two unforgettable women--one just beginning a journey of reckoning and self-discovery and the other completing her life's last vital act--intertwine in this sweeping, powerful novel set at the...
Tin camp road
Airgood, Ellen
Paper Book
Laurel Hill and her precocious daughter Skye live on Lake Superior, where the local school has classes of just four children, and the nearest hospital is a helicopter ride away. One otherwise normal afternoon, their landlord decides to evict them in favour of a more profitable summer rental, and,...
Dearborn : stories
Zeineddine, Ghassan
Paper Book
Spanning several decades, Ghassan Zeineddine's debut collection examines the diverse range and complexities of the Arab American community in Dearborn, Michigan. In ten tragicomic stories, Zeineddine explores themes of identity, generational conflicts, war trauma, migration, sexuality, queerness,...
Great women of Mackinac, 1800-1950
Croghan, Melissa
Paper Book
Great Women of Mackinac, 1800-1950 tells the dramatic history of thirteen women leaders on Mackinac Island in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their linked visions of family and community define this beautiful island in the western Great Lakes. In this collective biography,...
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...
In the upper country
Thomas, Kai
Paper Book
The fates of two unforgettable women--one just beginning a journey of reckoning and self-discovery and the other completing her life's last vital act--intertwine in this sweeping, powerful novel set at the terminus of the Underground Railroad. In the 1800s in Dunmore,...
My murder
Williams, Katie
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER  NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND GLAMOUR! "One of those rare emotionally intelligent books that are also fun reads... Going to keep readers turning pages late into the night." -The New York Times ...
Pulp : a practical guide to cooking with fruit : 215+ sweet and savory recipes and variations, including a baker's toolkit
Berens, Abra
Paper Book
Named a Best Cookbook of Spring 2023 by Eater, Food & Wine, and more, and a Best Cookbook of the Year by Epicurious, Vice, Library Journal, and more. First vegetables, then grains, and now,...
An ordinary man : the surprising life and historic presidency of Gerald R. Ford
Smith, Richard Norton
Paper Book
Wall Street Journal Top 10 Best Books of 2023 "Richard Norton Smith had brought a lifetime of wisdom, insight, and storytelling verve to the life of a consequential president--Gerald R. Ford. Ford's is a very American life, and Smith has charted its vicissitudes and import with great grace...
Girls and their monsters : the Genain quadruplets and the making of madness in America
Farley, Audrey Clare
Paper Book
For readers of Hidden Valley Road and Patient H.M., an "intimate and compassionate portrait" (Grace M. Cho) of the Genain quadruplets, the harrowing violence they experienced, and its psychological and political consequences.​ In 1954,...
Chevy in the hole : a novel
Ronan, Kelsey
Paper Book
A New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceNamed a Michigan Notable Book for 2023 Finalist for the 2022 Heartland Booksellers Award A gorgeous, unflinching love letter to Flint, Michigan, and the resilience of its people, Kelsey...
The king of confidence : a tale of utopian dreamers, frontier schemers, true believers, false prophets, and the murder of an American monarch
Harvey, Miles
Paper Book
The "unputdownable" (Dave Eggers, National Book award finalist) story of the most infamous American con man you've never heard of: James Strang, self-proclaimed divine king of earth, heaven, and an island in Lake Michigan, "perfect for fans of The Devil in the White City" (Kirkus)<...
The turtle of Michigan : a novel
Nye, Naomi Shihab
Paper Book
The stand-alone companion to National Book Award Finalist and beloved poet Naomi Shihab Nye's The Turtle of Oman. The Turtle of Michigan is a deft and accessible novel that follows a young boy named Aref as he travels from Muscat, Oman, to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and adjusts to a new life and a new...
Wolf Island : discovering the secrets of a mythic animal
Mech, L. David
Paper Book
The world's leading wolf expert describes the first years of a major study that transformed our understanding of one of nature's most iconic creatures In the late 1940s, a small pack of wolves crossed the ice of Lake Superior to the island wilderness of Isle Royale, creating a...
Blood and fire : the unbelievable real-life story of wrestling's Original Sheik
Solomon, Brian
Paper Book
For a half-century, the Sheik terrorized fans and foes, becoming wrestling's most feared villain. Yet away from the ring, Ed Farhat was a veteran, family-man and businessman whose real life was shrouded in mystery. For the first time, Blood and Fire tells the whole story. He was the most vicious,...
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 ...
Shapes, lines, and light : my grandfather's American journey
Yamasaki, Katie
Paper Book
Minoru Yamasaki described the feeling he sought to create in his buildings as "serenity, surprise, and delight." Here, Katie Yamasaki charts his life and work: his childhood in Seattle's Japanese immigrant community, paying his way through college working in Alaska's notorious salmon canneries,...
The wicked sister
Dionne, Karen
Paper Book
She thought she'd buried her past. But what if it's been hunting her this whole time? From the bestselling and award-winning author of The Marsh King's Daughter comes a startling novel of psychological suspense as two generations of sisters try to unravel their tangled...
Uphill : a memoir
Hill, Jemele
Paper Book
One of Oprah Daily's Best Fall Nonfiction Books of 2022 An empowering, unabashedly bold memoir by the Atlantic journalist and former ESPN SportsCenter coanchor about overcoming a legacy of pain and forging a new path, no matter how uphill life's battles...
Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB YA PICK An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground. "One of this year's most buzzed about...
Magic season : a son's story
Rouse, Wade
Paper Book
*A Michigan Notable Book of 2022* "Honest, authentic, heartbreaking and healing. I devoured it in one day."--Jenny Lawson, #1 New York Times bestselling author      Wade Rouse, bestselling author under the pen name...
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...
Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline.
Audiobook
Ancestor approved : intertribal stories for kids
Smith, Cynthia Leitich
Paper Book
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...
Satisfaction guaranteed : how Zingerman's built a corner deli into a global food community
Maynard, Micheline
Paper Book
From an accomplished journalist, this illuminating chronicle of the trials, tribulations, and triumph of Zingerman's--a beloved, $70 million-dollar Michigan-based gourmet food store with global reach--is "thoughtful reading for foodies and entrepreneurs" (Kirkus Reviews). ...
Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
A PRINTZ MEDAL WINNER! A MORRIS AWARD WINNER! AN AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH LITERATURE AWARD YA HONOR BOOK! A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB YA PICK An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller Soon to be adapted at Netflix...
The star that always stays
Johnson, Anna Rose
Paper Book
When bright and spirited Norvia moves from the country to the city, she has to live by one new rule- Never let anyone know you're Ojibwe. Growing up on Beaver Island, Grand-p re told Norvia stories-stories about her ancestor Migizi, about Biboonke-o-nini the Wintermaker, about...
The turtle of Michigan : a novel
Nye, Naomi Shihab
CD
The stand-alone companion to National Book Award Finalist and beloved poet Naomi Shihab Nye's The Turtle of Oman. The Turtle of Michigan is a deft and accessible novel that follows a young boy named Aref as he travels from Muscat, Oman, to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and adjusts to a new life and a new...
The wicked sister
Dionne, Karen
Paper Book
She thought she'd buried her past. But what if it's been hunting her this whole time? From the bestselling and award-winning author of The Marsh King's Daughter comes a startling novel of psychological suspense as two generations of sisters try to unravel their tangled...
Dilla time : the life and afterlife of J Dilla, the hip-hop producer who reinvented rhythm
Charnas, Dan
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "This book is a must for everyone interested in illuminating the idea of unexplainable genius." --QUESTLOVE Equal parts biography,...
Scarlet in blue : a novel
Murphy, Jennifer
Paper Book
For Blue Lake's entire life, she and her mother, Scarlet, have been on the run from HIM the man who Scarlet, a talented and enigmatic painter, insists is chasing them. But now, at fifteen years old, Blue has begun to resent the nomadic life that once seemed like an adventure, increasingly unsure...
The dockporter : a Mackinac Island novel
McVeigh, Dave
Paper Book
SUMMER NEVER ENDS! A Michigan Notable Books selection for 2021. It's the summer of 1989. Jack McGuinn is a dockporter, transporting tourists' luggage piled high in his bike basket on Mackinac Island, Michigan, a tiny summer resort where cars are outlawed and pedal...
What the fireflies knew : a novel
Harris, Kai
Paper Book
An NAACP Image Award Nominee Longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize A Marie Claire Book Club pick Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by *Marie Claire* *Teen Vogue* *Buzzfeed* *Essence* *Ms. Magazine* *NBCNews.com* *...
Up north in Michigan : a portrait of place in four seasons
Dennis, Jerry
Paper Book
Northern Michigan is a place, like all places, in change. Over the past half century, its landscape has been bulldozed, subdivided, and built upon. Climate change warms the water of the Great Lakes at an alarming rate--Lake Superior is now the fastest-warming large body of freshwater on the planet-...
Long road to the circus
Bird, Betsy
Paper Book
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES The story of a girl who rides an ostrich straight to her dreams from the award-winning writer and librarian Betsy Bird, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist David Small.   ...
The cut
Wemlinger, John
Paper Book
Alvin Price and Lydia Cockrum literally bump into one another in the summer of 1870 and fall in love. But love is seldom without its struggles. Alvin is a farmer, and Lydia is the privileged daughter of an engineer aligned with northern Michigan's powerful lumber industry. The Cut tells...
Never saw you coming
Hahn, Erin
Paper Book
"BOLD. IMPORTANT. BEAUTIFUL." - Laura Taylor Namey, New York Times bestselling author of A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow In Erin Hahn's Never Saw You Coming, sometimes it takes a leap of faith to find yourself. Eighteen-year...
Call me athena: girl from detroit
Smith, Colby Cedar.
Paper Book
An enchanting novel in verse, Call Me Athena captures one young woman's struggle for independence, equality, and identity as the daughter of Greek and French immigrants in tumultuous 1930s Detroit. Mary lives in a tiny apartment in Detroit in the 1930s with her Greek and...
The other me
Jeng, Sarah Zachrich
Paper Book
"Who hasn't wondered what alternate versions of their lives might look like?...As relatable as it is suspenseful cleverly exploring adulthood, identity, and shifting realities." --Margarita Montimore, USA Today bestselling author of Oona Out of Order ...
From a whisper to a rallying cry : the killing of Vincent Chin and the trial that galvanized the Asian American movement
Yoo, Paula
Paper Book
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...
Dead of winter
Jones, Stephen Mack
Paper Book
Authentico Foods Inc. has been a part of Detroit's Mexicantown for over thirty years, grown from a tiny business to a block-long facility that supplies tortillas to restaurants. Ex-cop and Mexicantown native August Snow has been invited for a business meeting at Authentico. Its owner, Ronaldo Ochoa,...
The women of the copper country : a novel
Russell, Mary Doria
Paper Book
From the bestselling and award-winning author of The Sparrow comes an inspiring historical novel about "America's Joan of Arc" Annie Clements--the courageous woman who started a rebellion by leading a strike against the largest copper mining company in the world. In July...
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...
Half
Harrigan, Sharon
Paper Book
Growing up, identical twins Paula and Artis speak in one voice--until they can't. After years apart, with lives, partners, and children of their own, they are reunited on the occasion of their father's funeral. Seeking to repair the damage wrought upon their relationship by outside forces, the...
R-E-S-P-E-C-T : Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul
Weatherford, Carole Boston
Paper Book
Winner of the Coretta Scott King Illustration Award! From a New York Times bestselling author and an acclaimed illustrator comes this vibrant portrait of Aretha Franklin that pays her the R-E-S-P-E-C-T this Queen of Soul deserves. Aretha Franklin was born to sing. The...
The dead are arising : the life of Malcolm X
Payne, Les
Paper Book
Les Payne, the renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, embarked in 1990 on a nearly thirty-year-long quest to interview anyone he could find who had actually known Malcolm X--all living siblings of the Malcolm Little family, classmates, street friends, cellmates, Nation of Islam...
Black Bottom saints : a novel
Randall, Alice
Paper Book
An enthralling literary tour-de-force that pays tribute to Detroit's legendary neighborhood, a mecca for jazz, sports, and politics, Black Bottom Saints is a powerful blend of fact and imagination reminiscent of E.L. Doctorow's classic novel Ragtime and Marlon James' Man Booker Award-winning...
City of champions : a history of triumph and defeat in Detroit
Szymanski, Stefan
Paper Book
The changing fortunes of Detroit, told through the lens of the city's major sporting events, by the bestselling author of Soccernomics, and a prizewinning cultural critic From Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg to the Bad Boys, from Joe Louis and Gordie Howe to the Malice at the Palace, City of...
The ship we built
Bean, Lexie
Paper Book
Tender and wise, The Ship We Built is about the bravery it takes to stand up for yourself-even to those you love-and the power of finding someone who treasures you for everything you are. Sometimes I have trouble filling out tests when the name part feels like a test...
Lakewood : a novel
Giddings, Megan
Paper Book
NPR Book of the Year 2020 Electric Literature: One of 55 Books by Women and Nonbinary Writers of Color to Read in 2020 |  Lit Hub & The Millions: Most Anticipated Books of 2020 | Ms. Magazine: Anticipated 2020 Feminist Books | Refinery29: Books by Black Women We are Looking Forward To...
The king of confidence : a tale of utopian dreamers, frontier schemers, true believers, false prophets, and the murder of an American monarch
Harvey, Miles
Paper Book
The "unputdownable" (Dave Eggers, National Book award finalist) story of the most infamous American con man you've never heard of: James Strang, self-proclaimed divine king of earth, heaven, and an island in Lake Michigan, "perfect for fans of The Devil in the White City" (Kirkus)<...
Words like thunder : new and used Anishinaabe prayers
Beardslee, Lois
Paper Book
Words like Thunder: New and Used Anishinaabe Prayers is a collection of poetry by award-winning Ojibwe author Lois Beardslee. Much of the book centers around Native people of the Great Lakes but has a universal relevance to modern indigenous people worldwide. Beardslee tackles contemporary...
The girls : an all-American town, a predatory doctor, and the untold story of the gymnasts who brought him down
Pesta, Abigail.
Paper Book
In this news-breaking narrative, decades of women who brought down sexual predator Larry Nassar offer groundbreaking new insight, with the first known survivor and many others sharing their stories exclusively for the first time. We think of Larry Nassar as the despicable sexual...
All manner of things
Finkbeiner, Susie
Paper Book
When Annie Jacobson's brother Mike enlists as a medic in the Army in 1967, he hands her a piece of paper with the address of their long-estranged father. If anything should happen to him in Vietnam, Mike says, Annie must let their father know. In Mike's absence, their father returns to...
Strikers : a graphic novel
Phegley, Kiel
Paper Book
Evan just wants to win a game. Bobby would rather fight than win. Hockey--and life--keep handing them both losses. Their team, the Strikers, has a roster of rejects in hand-me-down coats but lacks good equipment, a deep bench, and a coach who shows up on time. Their town of Flint, Michigan...
The all American : a novel
Finkbeiner, Susie
Paper Book
A 2024 Michigan Notable Book "A moving novel, fit for inspiring any reader to dream big and believe that anything is possible."--BookPage *** Two sisters discover how much good there is in the world--even in the hardest of circumstances <...

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