Your 2008 Kansas Notable Books

As you may know, I published a book in 2006 -- my wife's biography-history of the early women's rights movement, Revolutionary Heart. You may also know it picked up some honors, one of which was being named a Kansas Notable Book for 2007 by the State Library of Kansas and the Kansas Center for the Book. Since the governor appoints the state librarian, this was praise indeed.

As a result, I was asked to serve on this year's advisory panel to pick the 2008 choices. It was a surprisingly intense process. I read at least 50 books and at least cracked the covers on another 50 titles. Mrs. TV Barn overheard one of the conference calls I took part in, and the conscientiousness of our discussion (I forget what book we were debating) made her feel even better about having made the cut.

So here are the 15 that made this year's cut, by way of my story that appears in Sunday's Kansas City Star.

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American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China by Matthew Polly. Absorbing memoir by a native of Topeka who in 1992 traveled to China to learn kung fu at a famed shrine.

The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians by Carla Morris. Kansan Brad Sneed illustrated this children’s book about an inquisitive boy whose formative years are spent exploring the world of knowledge in his local library.

Can I Keep My Jersey? by Paul Shirley. These are the caustic diary entries of a Kansas farm boy and former Iowa State standout as he endures endless travel and basketball games in strange places.

The Curse of Catunkhamun,by Tim Raglin. The meticulous approach of Independence author-illustrator Raglin shows on every page of this picture book about two felines who plot to turn dogs into zombies.

The Farther Shore by Matthew Eck. What does it feel like to be in the fog of war? Eck served in Somalia and Haiti and, judging from this timely and hellish first novel, has a pretty good idea.

From Emporia: The Story of William Allen White, by Beverley O. Buller. This handcrafted book for readers young and old offers a fresh telling of the legendary Emporia Gazette publisher’s life.

Hellfire Canyon, by Max McCoy. A page-turning Western from Emporia author McCoy, it’s based on real-life serial killer Alf Bolin, whose gang flourished after the Civil War outside Branson.

Hunger for the Wild: America’s Obsession With the Untamed West, by Michael L. Johnson. A stimulating book from a KU English professor, who notes our habit of identifying “the West” with wildness and untamed potential.

The Kitchen Sink: New and Selected Poems, 1972-2007, by Albert Goldbarth. Wichita State professor Albert Goldbarth makes his career body of work available in a wide-ranging one-volume compendium.

A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution by David A. Nichols. Has Ike gotten enough credit for his role in the civil rights movement? This persuasive book argues that he hasn’t.

The Middle of Somewhere, by J.B. Cheaney. In this novel for young readers, 12-year-old Veronica and her hyperactive little brother take an RV trip across Kansas with a grandfather who’s not real pleased to have them along.

The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty. When a teen girl kills a classmate in an auto accident, the tragedy makes a mother realize how little she knows her daughter. This is the follow-up to Lawrence-based novelist Moriarty’s sparkling debut, The Center of Everything.

Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep, by Michael J. Everhart. A lushly illustrated, cogently written companion to the film “Sea Monsters,” written by the curator of paleontology at the Sternberg Museum in Hays.

Storm Chaser: A Photographer’s Journey, by Jim Reed. This eye-catching addition to any coffee table features full-page photographs of the drama of nature captured by Wichita-based Reed.

Writing in an Age of Silence by Sara Paretsky. Essays from the crime novelist look back at her childhood and youth in Kansas, the ’60s, how she became a feminist and a novelist, and the challenge to civil liberties today.