Middle-Grade Fiction by State
The fourth grade has a recurring assignment to read a fiction book that takes place in one (and
only one) specific US state. Here are some books we have by state.
ALABAMA
Curtis, Christopher Paul - The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963
English, Karen - Francie
ALASKA
George, Jean Craighead – Julie of the Wolves
Hill, Kirkpatrick – The Year of Miss Agnes
Hobbs, Will – Wild Man Island
Keene, Carolyn – Strangers on a Train (Nancy Drew Diaries)
Morey, Walt – Gentle Ben
ARIZONA
Broach, Elise – Missing on Superstition Mountain
Keene, Caroline – The Secret of Shadow Ranch (Nancy Drew)
ARKANSAS
CALIFORNIA
Buzbee, Lewis – Steinbeck’s Ghost
Cushman, Karen – The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
Cushman, Karen – The Loud Silence of Francine Green
George, Jean Craighead – There’s an Owl in the Shower
Ketchum, Liza - Newsgirl
Osborne, Mary Pope – Earthquake in the Early Morning (Magic Treehouse)
Williams-Garcia, Rita – One Crazy Summer
COLORADO
Avi – The Secret School
CONNECTICUT
Dalgliesh, Alice – The Courage of Sarah Noble
DeFelice, Cynthia – The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker
Speare, Elizabeth George – The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Van Leeuwen, Jean – Hannah’s Helping Hands
DELAWARE
Anderson, M. T. – Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware (Pals in Peril)
FLORIDA
DiCamillo, Kate – Because of Winn-Dixie
DiCamillo, Kate – The Tiger Rising
Haworth, Danette – Violet Raines Almost got Struck by Lightning
Hiaasen, Carl - Chomp
Hiaasen, Carl - Hoot
Lenski, Lois – Strawberry Girl
Roy, Ron – The Goose’s Gold (A to Z Mysteries)
GEORGIA
O’Connor, Barbara – The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester
HAWAII
Osborne, Mary Pope – High Tide in Hawaii (Magic Treehouse)
Salisbury, Graham – Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet
Salisbury, Graham – Calvin Coconut: the Zippy Fix
Salisbury, Graham – Lord of the Deep
Skurzynski, Gloria and Alane Ferguson – Rage of Fire
White, Ellen Emerson – Kaiulani: the People’s Princess, Hawaii, 1889 (Royal Diaries)
IDAHO
Blake, Stephanie J. – The Marble Queen
Creech, Sharon – Walk Two Moons
ILLINOIS
Peck, Richard – A Long Way from Chicago
Peck, Richard – The River Between Us
Peck, Richard – A Season of Gifts
INDIANA
Lasky, Kathryn – Chasing Orion
Peck, Richard – Here Lies the Librarian
IOWA
KANSAS
Jennings, Richard W. – The Great Whale of Kansas
McMullan, Kate – A Fine Start: Meg’s Prairie Diary (My America)
McMullan, Kate – The End of the Earth: Meg’s Prairie Diary (My America)
Osborne, Mary Pope – Twister on Tuesday (Magic Treehouse)
Phelan, Matt – The Storm in the Barn
Vanderpool, Claire – Moon Over Manifest
KENTUCKY
Byars, Betsy – Keeper of the Doves
LOUISIANA
Holt, Kimberly Willis – My Louisiana Sky
Roy, Ron – The Zombie Zone (A to Z Mysteries)
MAINE
Lord, Cynthia – Touch Blue
Roy, Ron – The White Wolf (A to Z Mysteries)
Speare, Elizabeth George – The Sign of the Beaver
Stone, Phoebe – The Romeo and Juliet Code
Voigt, Cynthia – Angus and Sadie
Wait, Lea – Stopping to Home
MARYLAND
Hahn, Mary Downing – Anna All Year Round
Paterson, Katherine – Jacob Have I Loved
Stout, Shawn K. – Fiona Finkelstein: Big-Time Ballerina!!
Voigt, Cynthia – Dicey’s Song
MASSACHUSETTS
Arenstam, Peter – Nicholas: a Massachusetts Tale
Barker, M. P. – A Difficult Boy
Czech, Jan M. – Grace Happens
Denenberg, Barry – Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall (Dear America)
Fritz, Jean – Early Thunder
Harlow, Joan Hiatt – Midnight Rider
Pennypacker, Sara – Gypsy Moth Summer
Rinaldi, Ann – A Break with Charity: a Story about the Salem Witch Trials
Rinaldi, Ann – The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce, a pilgrim boy, Plimouth Plantation, 1620
(My Name is America)
MICHIGAN
Giff, Patricia Reilly – Willow Run
MINNESOTA
Erdrich, Louise – The Porcupine Year
Lovelace, Maud Hart – Betsy-Tacy
McGhee, Alison – Julie Gillian and the Art of Knowing
Paulsen, Gary – Woodsong (we have it in nonfiction)
Shaw, Janet Beeler – Kirsten Saves the Day (American Girls)
MISSISSIPPI
Matas, Carol – The War Within
Spears, Lynne – A Mother’s Gift
Taylor, Mildred – The Friendship
Taylor, Mildred – Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Taylor, Mildred – Song of the Trees
Taylor, Mildred – The Well
MISSOURI
MacBride, Roger Lea – In the Land of the Big Red Apple
MacBride, Roger Lea – Little Farm in the Ozarks
MacBride, Roger Lea – Little Town in the Ozarks
MacBride, Roger Lea – On the Other Side of the Hill
McKissack, Patricia C. – A Friendship for Today
Twain, Mark – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
MONTANA
Roy, Ron – The Ninth Nugget (A to Z Mysteries)
NEBRASKA
NEVADA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Curtis, Alice Turner – A Little Maid of New Hampshire
NEW JERSEY
Cohen, Barbara – Thank You, Jackie Robinson
NEW MEXICO
Klages, Ellen – The Green Glass Sea
Klages, Ellen – White Sands, Red Menace
Skuzynski, Gloria and Alane Ferguson – Running Scared: a Mystery in Carlsbad Caverns
National Park
Tripp, Valerie – Happy Birthday, Josephina! A Springtime Story (American Girls)
Tripp, Valerie – Josephina Learns a Lesson: a School Story (American Girls)
Tripp, Valerie – Josephina’s Surprise: a Christmas Story (American Girls)
Tripp, Valerie – Josephina Saves the Day (American Girls)
Tripp, Valerie – Meet Josephina, an American Girl (American Girls)
NEW YORK
Estes, Eleanor – The Alley
Fitzhugh, Louise – Harriet the Spy
Konigsburg, E.L. – From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Levine, Gail Carson – Dave at Night
Lupica, Mike - Heat
Myers, Walter Dean - Scorpions
Selden, George – The Cricket in Times Square
Taylor, Sydney – All-of-a-Kind Family
NORTH CAROLINA
Carbone, Elisa Lynn – Storm Warriors
Dowell, Frances O’Roark – Dovey Coe
McDowell, Marilyn Taylor – Carolina Harmony
Moses, Shelia P. – The Legend of Buddy Bush
Warner, Gertrude Chandler – The Mystery of the Wild Ponies (Boxcar Children)
NORTH DAKOTA
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds – Blizzard’s Wake
OHIO
Hamilton, Virginia – The House of Dies Drear
Hamilton, Virginia – M. C. Higgins, the Great
Pearsall, Shelley – Crooked River
OKLAHOMA
Hesse, Karen – Out of the Dust
OREGON
Avi – The Barn
Hermes, Patricia – A Perfect Place: Joshua’s Oregon Trail Diary (My America)
Meloy, Colin – Wildwood
Schroeder, Lisa – It’s Raining Cupcakes
Wolff, Virginia Euwer – Bat 6
PENNSYLVANIA
Anderson, Laurie Halse – Fever 1793
Clifford, Eth – The Man Who Sang in the Dark
Corbett, Sue – The Last Newspaper Boy in America
De Young, C. Coco - A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt
Gantos, Jack – Dead End in Norvelt
Osborne, Mary Pope – My Brother’s Keeper: Virginia’s Civil War Diary (My America)
Osborne, Mary Pope – Standing in the Light (Dear America)
Rinaldi, Ann – My Heart is On the Ground: the Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl (Dear
America)
RHODE ISLAND
Lisle, Janet Taylor – The Art of Keeping Cool
SOUTH CAROLINA
Myracle, Lauren – Thirteen Plus One
O’Connor, Barbara – The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis
SOUTH DAKOTA
Pennypacker, Sara – The Mount Rushmore Calamity (Flat Stanley)
Ransom, Candice F. – Message in the Mountain: a Tale of Mount Rushmore (Time Spies)
TENNESSEE
TEXAS
Erickson, John R. – Hank the Cowdog: the Case of the Raging Rottweiler
Garland, Sherry – A Line in the Sand (Dear America)
Kelly, Jacqueline – The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Sachar, Louis - Holes
UTAH
Fitzgerald, John Dennis – The Great Brain
VERMONT
Alvarez, Julia – Return to Sender
Hesse, Karen - Witness
Kelley, Jane A. – Nature Girl
Maguire, Gregory – Seven Spiders Spinning
Paterson, Katherine – Jip: His Story
Paterson, Katherine – Preacher’s Boy
Peck, Robert Newton - Soup
Winthrop, Elizabeth – Counting on Grace
VIRGINIA
Carbone, Elisa Lynn – Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607
Denenberg, Barry – When Will This Cruel War be Over? (Dar America)
Elliott, L. M. – Give Me Liberty
Ray, Delia – Ghost Girl
Patterson, Nancy Ruth – Ellie Ever
White, Ruth – Belle Prater’s Boy
WASHINGTON
Holm, Jennifer L. – Our Only May Amelia
WEST VIRGINIA
Hahn, Mary Downing – Witch Catcher
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds – Shiloh
Rylant, Cynthia – A Blue-Eyed Daisy
White, Ruth – Way Down Deep
WISCONSIN
Enright, Elizabeth – Thimble Summer
Hannigan, Katherine – Ida B.
Henkes, Kevin – Protecting Marie
Paulsen, Gary – The Island
Wilkes, Maria D. – Brookfield Days (Caroline #1)
Wilkes, Maria D. – Little House in Brookfield
Wilkes, Maria D. – Little Town at the Crossroads
WYOMING
Gardiner, John Reynolds – Stone Fox
O’Hara, Mary – My Friend Flicka