If you have been following this blog, you know that every year I challenge myself to read a book from each state, and admittedly I have failed every year. I have come close several times, but the great states of California and New York weigh me down with multiple reads each year. Damn those popular states! One state that I often have difficulty with is Nebraska. Not many books are set in the state of Nebraska.

I have visited the great state of Nebraska, and it is beautiful with its rolling hills and prairies. The city of Omaha is very diverse, making it a great cultural stop. I am surprised it has not inspired more writers.

But if you are looking to cross the state off your map, I have three recommendations.

Jim Burden is forced to move to Nebraska to live with his grandparents at the age of ten when he loses his parents. On the way to Nebraska he meets an Bohemian immigrant family, and he is happy to discover that they live on the next farm over from his grandparents. Jim becomes very close to Antonia, the child closest to his age. They spend the summer becoming familiar with their new surroundings as Jim teaches Antonia English.

As they grow older, the book quickly becomes about missed opportunities and broken promises as the characters grow apart and reconnect several times. Eventually Jim goes off the New York, and Antonia starts a life of her own in Nebraska.

This is a great look of life in the midwest as the plains were settled. It also gives the experience of immigrants coming to America searching for their American Dream.

Rainbow Rowell’s Young Adult novel Eleanor & Park is a must read. Set over the course of one school year in 1986, Eleanor and Park are both considered misfits. Eleanor is a transfer student, who is “big and awkward” (her words) and is so poor her family cannot afford a phone. She also has a highly abusive, alcoholic stepfather. Park also feels like an outsider. He is an Asian-American, who loves music and comic books. He also feels like his constantly disappointing his father because he is not masculine enough. These two misfits fall in love, and as their personal lives start to bloom, the rest of their lives seem to fall apart.

If you like something a little more exciting than teen love and a classic, try this young adult thriller. Makani thought she left her past in Hawaii when she moved in with her grandmother in Nebraska. She has made new friends and has even met a boy by the name of Ollie. But now students at her new school are being murdered one by one. Everyone begins to look at the new girl as a possible suspect.

What is your favorite read set in the state of Nebraska? I need to find one to mark off this year’s Read Across America map.