The books are then large groups corresponding to the buttons below and then into subgroups by authors. Click a button to go to that particular list. The list is ever-growing, so please let me know if you have a suggestion for a book I should add to the list. If you would like to learn more about a book on this list, check the Book Lists & Reviews page to see if it has been reviewed or featured in a book talk series.
Just a Note
I recognize that there are multiple and various rural realities and experiences and just as many identities. The books on this list are grouped and curated in a way that will hopefully help you find stories and experiences that either reflect the students’ identities in your classrooms or provide an invitation for exploration of a rurality (or reality) different from theirs. Organization: First, major category or identity marker. Then by authors name (alpha order by last name). In the second column I have also provided the state (where possible) in which the stories take places as well as other themes/topics of note for a particular book. Wherever possible, links to authors’ pages have been provided.
YA Fiction
| *Indicate Whippoorwill Award Winners | |
| Christopher Barzak The Gone Away Place* | #Midwest #Natural Disaster #Ghosts |
| Joan Bauer Hope Was Here | #Wisconsin #Food #Cancer |
| Nina Berkhout The Mosaic | #Montana #Mental Health #Veterans |
| Amy Jo Burns Shiner | #West Virginia #Mining #Loss |
| Jimmy Cajoleas The Good Demon* | #American South #Speculative #Religion #Drug Addiction #Loss |
| Nora Shalaway Carpenter Rural Voices: 15 Authors Challenge Assumptions about Small-Town America The Edge of Anything | #Anthology #Divers Ruralities #Diverse Genres #North Carolina #Grief #Mental Health #Friendship |
| Betty Culley Three Things I Know Are True | #Maine #Gun Violence #Grief |
| Sandra Dallas Someplace to Call Home* | #Dust Bowl #Historical #Great Depression |
| Rebecca Fjelland Davis Slider’s Son | #North Dakota #Historical Fiction #Great Depression #Mystery |
| Sarah Dessen The Rest of the Story | #Lake #Parent Loss #Grief #Class |
| Ashley Elston This Is Our Story | #Louisiana #Hunting Accident #Mystery |
| Shea Ernshaw The Wicked Deep Winterwood* | #Oregon #Magic #Fantasy |
| John Green An Abundance of Katherines | #Tennessee #Math #Oral History |
| Jenny Han The Summer I Turned Pretty It’s Not Summer Without You We’ll Always Have Summer | #North Carolina #Series #Love Stories |
| Michael Harmon Last Exit to Normal | #Montana #LGBTQIA+ #Relocation |
| Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town | #Alaska #Colorado #Sexual Abuse |
| Peter Brown Hoffmeister Too Shattered For Mending | #Idaho #Mystery #Family |
| E.K. Johnston Exit, Pursued by a Bear | #Canada #Cheerleading #Rape |
| AS King Me and Marvin Gardens | #Pennsylvania #Farm Loss #Friendship #Magical Realism |
| Daniel Kraus The Monster Variations Rotters Scowler | #A Small Town #Murder Mystery #Horror #Iowa #Relocation #Parent Loss #Horror #Family Farm #Horror #Blood and Gore |
| Claire Legrand Sawkill Girls | #Island Setting #Horse Farms #Speculative |
| Cynthia Lord Touch Blue | #Maine #Island #Foster Care #Relocation |
| Jennifer Mathieu Moxie | #Texas #Zine #Feminism |
| Mindy McGinnis The Female of the Species | #Ohio #Rape Culture #Violence |
| Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek | #North Carolina #Speculative #Illness |
| Emma Mills Famous in a Small Town | #Midwest #Band #Family #Secrets |
| Jean Mills Larkin on the Shore* | #Nova Scotia #Arson #Belonging |
| Jake Mosher The Last Buffalo Hunter | #Montana #Wilderness #Family |
| Catherine Gilbert Murdock Dairy Queen | #Wisconsin #Family Farming #Football |
| Julie Murphy Dumplin’ Puddin’ | #Texas #Beauty Pageant #Body Positivity #Texas #Friendship #Body Positivity |
| Rainbow Rowell Pumpkinheads | #Nebraska #Graphic Novel #Divers Characters |
| Kristin Russell A Sky For Us Alone | #Appalachia #Drug Addiction #Family |
| Gary D. Schmidt Orbiting Jupiter Trouble | #Maine #Foster Care #Teen Parenthood #Maine #Car Accident #Racial Tension |
| Angie Smibert Bone’s Gift* Lingering Echoes The Truce | #Appalachia #Series #Historical Fiction #Speculative Elements |
| Tim Tharp Knights of Hill Country | #Oklahoma #Football #Blended Family |
| Lillie Vale Small Town Hearts | #Maine #Tourism #Friendship #Love Story |
| Vince Vawter Paperboy Copyboy* | #Tennessee #Historical Fiction #Stutter #Mississippi River #Historical Fiction |
| Sandra Neil Wallace Muckers | #Arizona #Football #Historical Fiction |
| Suzanne Williams Bull Rider | #Nevada #Rodeo #Impact of War |
| Alecia Whitaker The Queen of Kentucky | #Kentucky #Farming #Identity |
| Darcy Woods Smoke | #Michigan #PTSD #Marijuana |
| Melissa Wyatt Funny How Things Change | #West Virginia #Leaving for College #Love Story |
| Jeff Zentner Serpent King In the Wild Light | #Tennessee #Class #Religion #Tennessee #Class #Grief #Drug Abuse |
| Middle Grades Fiction | |
| Ann Braden The Benefits of Being an Octopus | #Vermont #Class #Gun Debate |
| Peggy Brooke Jake’s Orphan | #North Dakota #Farming #Historical Fiction |
| Leslie Connor The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle | #Apple Orchard #Loss #Learning Disability |
| Jean Craighead George My Side of the Mountain On the Far Side of the Mountain Frightful’s Mountain | #New York #Wilderness Survival #Running Away #Sequel #Siblings #Animal Conservation #Human/Animal Relationships |
| Kate DiCamillo Because of Winn Dixie Raymie Nightengale Beverly Right Here Louisian’s Way Home* | #Florida #Series #Friendship #Loneliness #Loss |
| Lynda Mullaly Hunt Shouting at the Rain | #Cape Cod #Loss #Family |
| Jennifer Jacobson The Dollar Kids | #A Struggling Small Town #Family #Community #Shooting Death |
| Kekla Magoon The Season of Styx Malone | #Indiana #Foster Care #Entrepreneurship |
| Julie Murphy Dear Sweet Pea | #Texas #Divorce #Friendship |
| Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Blizzard’s Wake | #North Dakota #Historical Fiction #Parent Loss |
| Anne Nesbet The Orphan Band of Springdale* | #Maine #Relocation #Historical Fiction #WWII |
| Wilson Rawls Where the Red Fern Grows | #Oklahoma #Hunting #Dogs |
| Jason Reynolds as brave as you | #Virginia #Disability #Guns #Courage |
| Chris Rylander Codename Zero | #North Dakota #Adventure #Crime-Fighting |
| Gary D. Schmidt Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy | #Maine #Race Relations #Friendship #Historical Fiction |
| Native/Indigenous Rural Experiences | |
| Sharon Creech Walk Two Moons Chasing Redbird | #Ohio #Loss #Storytelling #Relationships #Kentucky #Family #Loss |
| Eric Gansworth Give Me Some Truth* Apple: Skin to the Core If I Ever Get Out of Here | #New York #Music #Love Story #New York #Memoir #Poetry #New York #Music #Friendship |
| Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock The Smell of Other People’s Houses | #Alaska #Class #Teen Pregnancy |
| Michael Hutchison The Case of Windy Lake* | #Canada #Environmental Issues #Mystery #Middle Grades |
| Witi Ihimaera The Whale Rider | #New Zealand #Environment #Conservation |
| Kent Meyers The Work of Wolves | #South Dakota #Horse Training #Love Story |
| Dawn Quigley Apple in the Middle | #North Dakota #Race Relations #Relocation |
| Marcie R. Rendon Murder on the Red River Girl Gone Missing | #NorthDakota #Series #Mystery |
| Black Rural Experiences | |
| Kacen Callender Hurricane Child* King and the Dragonflies | #US Virgin Islands #Queer #Speculative #Middle Grades #Louisiana #Loss #Queer #Abuse |
| Tami Charles Muted | #New York #Music #Class #Abuse #Queer |
| Leah Johnson You Should See Me in a Crown | #Midwest #Queer #Class #Prom |
| Varian Johnson The Parker Inheritance | #South Carolina #Mystery #History #Middle Grades |
| T.R. Simon Zora and Me Zora and Me: The Cursed Ground* Zora and Me: The Summoner | #Florida #Series #Mystery #Historical Fiction |
| Latinx Rural Experiences | |
| David Bowles They Call Me Guero* | #Texas #Queer |
| Tehlor Kay Mejia & Anna-Marie McLemore Miss Meteor | #Oregon #Queer #Magical Realism #Beauty Pageant |
| Laura Taylor Namey A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow | #England #Relocation #Food |
| Asian American Rural Experiences | |
| Linda Sue Park Prairie Lotus | #Dakota Territory #Historical Fiction #Middle Grades |
| Muslim American Experiences. | |
| Tahereh Mafi A Very Large Expanse of Sea | #A Small Town #9/11 #Islamaphobia |
| Queer Rural Experiences | |
| Becky Albertalli Simon Vs. The Homo sapiens Agenda | #Georgia #Blackmail #Love Story |
| Jaye Robin Brown The Key to You and Me | #North Carolina #Horseback Riding #Love Story |
| Emily Danforth The Miseducation of Cameron Post | #Montana #Gay Conversion #Religion #Parent Loss |
| J.R. Jamison Hillbilly Queer | #Indiana #Missouri #Family #Relationships #Memoir |
| Jo Knowles Where the Heart Is* | #Farming #Class #Middle Grade |
| Julie Murphy Pumpkin Ramona Blue | #Texas #Fat Phobia #Drag #Mississippi #Hurricane Katrina #Friendship |
| Julie Anne Peters Far from Xanadu | #Kansas #Unrequited Love #Suicide #Parent Loss |
| Amber Smith Something like Gravity* | #Trans #Loss #Love Story |
| Courtney Stevens Dress Codes for Small Towns | #Kentucky #Religion #Love Story |
| Aiden Thomas Lost in the Never Woods | #Oregon #Mystery #Fantasy |
| Nita Tyndall Who I Was With Her | #A Small Town #Loss and Grief #Love Story |
| (Dis)Ability in Rural YA | |
| Christina Henry The Girl in Red | #A Small Town #Retelling #Postapocalyptic #Pandemic #Amputee |
| Courtney Summers Sadie | #Colorado #Class #Sexual Abuse #Stutter |
Adult Fiction
| Louise Erdrich Love Medicine The Beet Queen Tracks The Bingo Palace The Night Watchmen Plague of Doves The Roundhouse | #North Dakota #Series #Indigenous #Family #North Dakota #Historical Fiction #Native Dispossession #North Dakota #Murder #Family #Crime |
| Jim Harrison Dalva The River Swimmer: Novellas | #Nebraska #Adoption #History #Michigan #Love Story #Family |
| Barbara Kingsolver Prodigal Summer The Bean Trees Pigs in Heaven | #Appalachia #Farming #Conservation #Love #Loss #Kentucky #Arizona #Relocation #Series |
| Delia Owens Where the Crawdads Sing | #North Carolina #Historical Fiction #Mystery #Fishing |
| Jojo Moyes The Giver of Stars | #Kentucky #Historical Fiction #Love Story #Traveling Library |
| Kim Michele Richardson The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek | #Kentucky #Blue People #Historical Fiction #Traveling Library |
| Rainbow Rowell Landline | #Nebraska #Magical Realism #Marriage |
Nonfiction
| Tom Brokaw A Long Way From Home | #South Dakota #Ranching #Memoir #Journalism |
| Carl Hamilton In No Time At All | #Iowa #Autobiography #Historical |
| Linda Hasselstrom Going Over East: Reflections of a Woman Rancher | #South Dakota #Ranching #Essays |
| James Hearst Time Like a Furrow | #Farming #Essays #History |
| Gary Kelley Moon of the Snowblind | #Iowa #Indigenous #History |
| Haven Kimmel A Girl Named Zippy | #Indiana #Memoir |
| Joseph Marshall III The Dance House: Stories from Rosebud | #Rosebud Sioux Reservation #Indigenous #Essays |
| Dolly Parton Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics | #Tennessee #Music #Memoir |
| Sarah Smarsh Heartland She Come By It Natural | #Kansas #Class #Farming #Memoir #Kansas #Tennessee #Rural Feminism #Dolly Parton #Essay |
| Jeanette Walls The Glass Castle Half Broke Horses | #West Virginia #Southwest Desert Towns #Alcoholism #Memoir #Arizona #Historical #Ranching #True-Life Novel |
| Tara Westover Educated | #Idaho #Survivalists #Isolation #Education #Memoir |
