Every year, a list of books representing the literary heritage of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands is distributed by the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book during the National Book Festival. Each book is selected by a local Center for the Book or state library and most are for children and young readers. Books may be written by authors from the state, take place in the state, or celebrate the state’s culture and heritage. The two selections to represent Kansas are usually Kansas Notable Books.
There’s something weird about that mirror in Granny’s attic! Orion and her brother Ollie see the reflection of a girl who isn’t really there. Not only that, she looks like somebody from another time. With neighbors Sal and Sofi Martelli, they learn the story of Susanna Chase, a slave girl who ran away on the Underground Railroad in 1860 and waited in Quindaro for her father to join her. She died of the measles before he got there, but she can’t “die satisfied” until she finds out if he escaped from slavery. The kids seek help from Granny, who reveals a long-buried secret. A diary, a doll and a harmonica lead them to answers for Susanna, but they’re almost out of time—they have to tell her before she goes back to her grave forever! The bonus? An amazing connection that nobody expected.
James Montgomery (1814–71), a controversial character largely known as a Union colonel who led Black soldiers in the Civil War, waged a far more personal and radical war against slavery than popular history suggests. It is the true story of this militant abolitionist that Todd Mildfelt and David D. Schafer tell in Abolitionist of the Most Dangerous Kind, summoning a life fiercely lived in struggle against the expansion of slavery into the West and during the Civil War. Montgomery helped enslaved men and women escape via one of the least-explored underground railways in the nation, from Arkansas and Missouri through Kansas and Nebraska. With support of abolitionists in Massachusetts, he spearheaded resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act in Kansas. And, when war came, he led Black soldiers in striking at the very heart of the Confederacy. His full story thus illuminates the actions of both militant abolitionists and the enslaved people fighting to destroy the peculiar institution.
Listen to Kansas Public Radio Presents feature on 2024 and 2025 Great Reads from Great Places selections.
