Check out our list of books set in Oklahoma or by Oklahoma authors. There’s a wide range of suggestions, whether you like fiction, nonfiction, poetry or young adult novels. And you just might learn a thing or two about this great state.
The Outsiders
By S.E. Hinton
1967
Set in Tulsa and written by Tulsa-born author S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders changed the landscape of young adult fiction. Readers can learn more about being a teenager in 1960s Tulsa from the realistic story of Ponyboy Curtis and his struggle to find his place in a society that largely rejects him.
Where the Red Fern Grows
By Wilson Rawls
1961
The nature imagery and simple but beautiful storytelling in this classic will ring familiar to anyone who has experienced rural northeastern Oklahoma. Oklahoma author Wilson Rawls draws on his experiences in this story of a boy and his two pups roaming the Ozark Hills in the early part of the 20th century.
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
By David Grann
2017
This nonfiction work brings to light what the Osage Nation’s people knew as the Reign of Terror. This work by New
York Times bestselling author David Grann should be on every Oklahoman’s book list. (The 2023 Martin Scorsese film of the same name can be a bonus treat after finishing the book!)
The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
By John Grisham
2006
In this prolific novelist’s first nonfiction work, readers learn about a small-town Oklahoma murder and the following investigation. A local Ada baseball player, and major league wash-out, is put on death row, … but is he really guilty?
Ready Player One
By Ernest Cline
2011
This futuristic thriller is set in Oklahoma City, but the real action takes place in a virtual utopia called OASIS. The main character is avoiding his unpleasant reality by escaping it entirely. But when his attempts to solve virtual puzzles lead him into a much darker, and more real, element he finds his virtual world may not be all he had hoped.
Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding, Its Apocalyptic Weather, Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-class Metropolis
By Sam Anderson
2018
For the nonfiction lovers, this exciting history of Oklahoma City tells the whole story about our fascinating capital.
Paradise
By Toni Morrison
1997
Toni Morrison, recipient for the Nobel Prize for Literature, writes beautiful, if difficult, epic prose about a fictional all-Black town in Oklahoma where a brutal crime occurs early one morning in 1976.
Grapes of Wrath
By John Steinbeck
1939
This classic is a staple of every Oklahoma book list. Steinbeck’s compelling depiction of the Great Depression is illustrated through the Joad family who must leave their Oklahoma farm to head to California for redemption.
Bound for Glory
By Woody Guthrie
1943
This autobiography by one of Oklahoma’s favorite sons also gives a good depiction of the Great Depression era. Get insight into Guthrie’s personality and discover what made him a legend in his own time and since.
A Dog Called Kitty
By Bill Wallace
1992
Bill Wallace was born and raised in Oklahoma and became a teacher and principal at the same school he had attended as a child. He became an author when the stories he made up for his students were a big hit with the children. A Dog Called Kitty is about a boy who must overcome his fear of dogs to help rescue a special pup.
All photos courtesy their respective authors/publishers
