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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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...
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 KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE ...
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,...
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
*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 KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE ...
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 ...
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...
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,...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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* *...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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)<...
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...
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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