I can’t write or work on anything related to Oklahoma without the big song from the Oklahoma musical running through my head. It’s kind of hilarious to me that’s true, anyone else have that problem? Oh well, either way I had a blast with our Oklahoma book list, I’m adding it into our ultimate book lists post, and it made a great addition to our geography lessons.
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Just a side note on my Oklahoma booklist
Over on the subscriber page you can see a printable list of these books in order by call number. Every book can be found in my local library, for those of you who are local, or if you’re feeling a bit more adventurous and live in Texas, through TexShare.
Oklahoma picture books
- The Cloud Artist– I learned about some cool parts of Choctaw culture that I hadn’t known before (one of my husband’s best friends is Choctaw/Irish but looks all Irish, and so it always makes me happy to see more books about his tribe)
- Pappy’s Handkerchief– I loved this story of a multi-generational African-American family moving from Baltimore to Oklahoma territory to gain their own land. This is one of two stories I very much remembered our first time studying Oklahoma (looking it up on Amazon, it looks like this is part of a series!**)
- Jingle Dancer– a young girl from the Muscogee Nation wants to participate in the jingle dance at the powwow, but her mom isn’t able to get all the supplies, so she carefully works with all of her friends and relatives to create a jingle dress for herself
- In the Land of Milk and Honey– the main character travels from Oklahoma to California, so this could work for either state
- I Have Heard of a Land– another story of the Oklahoma land rush, this time from a single African-American woman’s point of view (sadly out of print)
- They Came from the Bronx: How the Buffalo were Saved from Extinction– this was fascinating to me to read all of this and learn more about how buffalo were repopulated
- Wilma’s Way Home: the Life of Wilka Mankiller– I hadn’t heard of Wilma Mankiller, the first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation, before reading this book, but it was fascinating to learn all about her
- Someday is Now– I loved this story of the 1958 Oklahoma sit-ins and how they spread
- The Trail of Tears– I’ve used this book both for Georgia, and Oklahoma, I think it fits a bit more in Georgia than Oklahoma, but that’s just my theory
These last few are on the list because the publisher is in Oklahoma, and I kept them in
Thank you, Crow– it’s a fanciful story of a friendship between a boy and crow (it must be out of print because Amazon couldn’t even find the book, and suggested some really weird completely unrelated books)
Somewhere a bell is ringing– a story about how interconnected all life is
Oklahoma nonfiction books
Honestly, I don’t have many nonfiction books on my Oklahoma book list, which is a shame, I guess I could have picked up a book on buffalo…
- Oklahoma– general nonfiction about the state
- Raccoon on the Moon– a silly book of poetry, which was published Tulsa
- Mole in a Hole– another fiction book published in Tulsa
** I looked up some of the other books in the series, and it includes one of my favorite Civil War picture books, The Last Brother. I’m going to have to look and see if the other books in the series are at the library.
Now hop over for our Oklahoma Unit Study, and you can see what we did when the kids were back in preschool and what we did a year or so ago (and somewhere in there my son made cookies for Oklahoma, but I can’t find the recipe).
More fun booklists
This is a great list! I admit that I know next to nothing about it – one of the states I missed in my travels and/or reading when A was younger…
I grew up in Oklahoma, at least in my elementary years, and I remember studying Oklahoma history in 4th grade and participating in the Great Oklahoma Land Run reenactment at my school. Fun times! I studied OK with my kids when they were in elementary (my elementary days are sadly over now). Another picture book we used was Angels in the Dust by Margot Raven. It’s about the Dust Bowl and drought of the 1930s. I know this is about picture books, but we also read Where the Red Fern Grows (and yes, my son cried).