Every state is known for something. Work your way through the list of the Best Books Set in All 50 States.
Why Study All 50 States
Creating a state unit study is a great way to explore and learn about a particular U.S. state in-depth. Whether you're a teacher planning a classroom unit or a homeschooling parent, here's a step-by-step guide to help you create a comprehensive state unit study:
1. Select the State: Choose the state you want to study. Consider factors such as your students' or children's interests, the state's historical and cultural significance, or any relevant curriculum requirements.
2. Set Learning Objectives: Define clear learning objectives or goals for your unit study. What do you want your students or children to know or be able to do at the end of the study? These objectives will guide your lesson planning.
3. Gather Resources:
- Books and Websites: Collect books, websites, and other resources about the state. Look for both non-fiction books and fiction that is set in the state or reflects its culture.
- Maps and Atlases: Obtain maps and atlases to help students understand the state's geography, including its cities, landmarks, and topography.
- Museums and Exhibits: If possible, consider visiting museums, exhibits, or historical sites related to the state.
4. Curriculum Topics:
- Geography: Study the state's geography, including its physical features, climate, and natural resources.
- History: Explore the state's history, including Native American heritage, early settlers, important events, and key historical figures.
- Culture and Society: Investigate the state's culture, traditions, demographics, and significant contributions to the nation.
- Economy: Learn about the state's economy, major industries, and trade.
- Government: Understand the state's government structure and key political figures.
- Natural Environment: Examine the state's flora, fauna, and environmental conservation efforts.
- Famous Landmarks: Highlight notable landmarks, such as national parks, monuments, and historic sites.
5. Plan Lessons and Activities:
- Design a series of lessons and activities based on your learning objectives. These can include readings, discussions, hands-on projects, and field trips if feasible.
- Create lesson plans that incorporate various subjects like social studies, geography, history, science, and language arts.
- Engage students with interactive activities like creating state maps, researching famous individuals from the state, or preparing traditional state dishes.
6. Interactive Projects:
- Encourage students to work on projects, such as creating a state report, building a diorama of a famous landmark, or putting on a presentation about a significant event in the state's history.
7. Field Trips: If possible, plan field trips to state-related sites, museums, or cultural events to provide real-world experiences.
8. Assessment and Evaluation: Develop assessments to gauge students' understanding and retention of the material. Assessments can include quizzes, reports, or oral presentations.
9. Culminating Event: Conclude the unit study with a culminating event, such as a state fair, where students can showcase their projects and what they've learned.
10. Reflect and Adjust: After completing the unit study, reflect on its effectiveness. What worked well, and what could be improved? Use this feedback to adjust and enhance future state unit studies.
By following these steps, you can create a comprehensive state unit study that engages students or children and provides them with a deeper understanding of the chosen state's geography, history, culture, and more.
Best Books Set In All 50 States
Alabama
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks
The Keepers of the House: Pulitzer Prize Winner by Shirley Ann Grau
Alaska
The Great Alone: A Novel by Kristin Hannah
Two Old Women by Velma Wallis
Alaska by James A. Michener
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Arizona
Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge
The Bean Trees (Greer Family #1) by Barbara Kingsolver
Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
The Monkey Wrench Gang (Harper Perennial Olive Editions) by Edward Abbey
In the Heart of the Canyon by Elisabeth Hyde
Arkansas
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
A Painted House by John Grisham
True Grit by Charles Portis
The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine
Sugar by Bernice L. McFadden
California
East of Eden by John Steinbeck: A Timeless Tale of Family, Free Will, and the Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil (Grapevine Edition) by John Steinbeck
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Colorado
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The Shining by Stephen King
Centennial by James A. Michener
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson
Connecticut
Last Night at the Lobster: A Novel by Stewart O’Nan
Bride Quartet series by Nora Roberts
Small Great Things: A Novel by Jodi Picoult
Dune Road: A Novel by Jane Green
Our Little Racket by Angelica Baker
Delaware
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
And Never Let Her Go by Ann Rule
The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez
The Saint of Lost Things by Christopher Castellani
Florida
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Florida by Lauren Groff
Tourist Season by Carl Hiassen
Georgia
Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews
A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Deliverance by James Dickey
Hawaii
Moloka’i and Daughter of Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
Honolulu by Alan Brennert
The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman
East Wind, Rain by Caroline Paul
Idaho
Travelers Rest: A Novel by Keith Lee Morris
Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness by Pete Fromm
Idaho: A Novel by Emily Ruskovich
What Beauty There Is: A Novel by Cory Anderson
The Other Idahoans by Todd Shallat
Illinois
Native Son by Richard Wright
Divergent by Veronica Roth
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Indiana
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Last Words by Michael Koryta
A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
Come and Get Me by August Norman
The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
Iowa
The Bridges of Madison County by Robert Waller
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
Kansas
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Mr Bridge And Mrs Bridge by Evan S. Connell
Gabriel's Story: A Novel (Hurston/Wright LEGACY Award) by David Anthony Durham
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Kentucky
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
The Sugar Maple Grove by John E. Espy
Eden Hill by Bill Higgs
The Patron Saint Of Liars by Ann Patchett
Louisiana
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
Cane River by Lalita Tademy
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Maine
The Cider House Rules by John Irving
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Olive Kitteridge and Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
Maryland
The Chesapeake Series by Nora Roberts
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
Tess Monaghan series by Laura Lippman
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Massachusetts
Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Practical Magic: 25th Anniversary Edition (The Practical Magic Series) by Alice Hoffman
Michigan
Song of Solomon: A Novel by Toni Morrison
Station Eleven: A Novel (National Book Award Finalist) by Emily St. John Mandel
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
A Mentor and Her Muse by Susan Sage
The Dollmaker by Harriet Simpson Arnow
Minnesota
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
Mississippi
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
My Dog Skip by Willie Morris
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
Missouri
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Twenty-Seventh City by Jonathan Franzen
Stoner by John Williams
A Good American by Alex George
Montana
Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling
Wind from an Enemy Sky by D’Arcy McNickle
Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
Swift Dam by Sid Gustafson
The Big Sky by A. B. Guthri
Nebraska
The Prairie Trilogy: O Pioneers!; The Song of the Lark; My Antoniá by Willa Cather
Children Of The Corn by Stephen King
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Night of the Twisters by Ivy Ruckman
Outside Valentine by Liza Ward
Nevada
Better Luck Next Time: A Novel by Julia Claiborne Johnson
We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride
The Desert Rose by Larry McMurtry
Leaving Las Vegas by: John O’Brien
The Delivery Man by Joe McGinniss
New Hampshire
The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
Our Town by Thornton Wilder
Labor Day by Joyce Maynard
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
New Jersey
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Pulitzer Prize Winner) by Junot Díaz
In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
Family Life by Akhil Sharma
On the Street Where You Live by Mary Higgins Clark
New Mexico
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Death Comes For The Archbishop by Willa Cather
Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford
The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
Night at the Fiestas by Kirstin Valdez Quade
New York
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Godfather (The Godfather, #1) by Mario Puzo
Firestarter by Stephen King
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
North Carolina
Where the Crawdads Sing: Reese's Book Club by Delia Owens
Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
The Last American Man by: Elizabeth Gilbert
North Dakota
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
The Dakota Trilogy by Debbie Macomber
The Grass Dancer by Susan Power
Paradise Valley by C.J. Box
Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman
Ohio
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Indignation by Phillip Roth
Reading Blue Devils: A Novel by Jon Bennett
Beloved: Pulitzer Prize Winner by Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Oklahoma
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
The Outsider by Stephen King
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
True Grit by Charles Portis
Oregon
Mink River by Brian Doyle
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
Pennsylvania
Rabbit, Run by John Updike
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
An American Childhood by Anne Dillard
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Made to Break Your Heart by Richard Fellinger
Rhode Island
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Gilded Newport Mysteries by Alyssa Maxwell
The Memory of Running by Russ McLarty
South Carolina
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
Sullivan’s Island by Dorthea Benton Frank
The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe
South Dakota
Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt
Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen
The Work of Wolves by Kent Meyers
Black Hills by Nora Roberts
Tennessee
A Death in the Family by James Agee
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
The Firm by John Grisham
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington
Texas
The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Texas by James Michener
The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
The Gates of the Alamo by Stephen Harrigan
Utah
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams
The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
Vermont
The Secret History: A Read with Jenna Pick by Donna Tartt
Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson
Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian
Radio Free Vermont by Bill McKibben
Stranger in the Kingdom by Howard Frank Mosher
Virginia
The Kitchen House: A Novel by Kathleen Grissom
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Big Stone Gap series by Adriana Trigiani
The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
Washington
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (National Book Award Winner) by Sherman Alexie
Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
West Virginia
In An Empty Room: A Novel by Stephen Spotte
Snakehunter by Chuck Kinder
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman
The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart by Glenn Taylor
Wisconsin
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler
Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskins
Wyoming
Open Season by CJ Box
Ridgeline by Michael Punke
Close Range : Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx
Empire of Shadows by George Black
The Wake Up by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Work your way through the states. Check off every book as you read it and each state as you complete it. Click here to download this printable.
To continue learning, Traveling the States helps you travel to all 50 states in America in a unit study fashion which is appropriate for ALL ages!
If you enjoyed this, I have a monthly membership for parents and educators that want to teach or supplement lessons with shows and movies.
“I absolutely love sharing movies with my kids as a way to teach them valuable lessons. It's like this awesome bonding experience where we all snuggle up on the couch with some popcorn, and I get to see their little faces light up with curiosity. Whether it's a classic with timeless morals or a new animated flick with hidden gems of wisdom, it's a fantastic way to impart important life lessons in a fun and engaging way. Plus, the post-movie discussions are priceless – hearing their take on the characters and the story adds a whole new dimension to our family time.” –a Homeschooling parent
With Homeschooling with Shows and Movies membership, you will get resources every month, including:
- List of This Month’s Suggested Themes
- List of Monthly Observances
- List Of Movies for Unit Study
- Unit Study Resource
- Seasonal Activities (minimum of three)
- (BONUSES) Resources for you, the teacher
These resources are worth it if you'd like to easily incorporate shows and movies into your homeschooling.
Related Posts:
- Listen to these 44 Books that Became Movies
- 11 Awesome Books That Became Movies
- 40+ Netflix Movies Based On Books (For Kids 8-10)
- 20 Books to Read Aloud and Watch the Movie
- 15+ Easy Movie Ticket Gift Basket Ideas - November 26, 2024
- The Best Thanksgiving Movies for Kids - November 22, 2024
- All the Netflix New Year’s Eve Countdowns (Updated for 2024) - November 22, 2024