• The best books that feature the lives of coal miners
• The best children’s books to bring history to life
• The best books about early modern environmental history
• The best classic novels of education, or Bildungsroman, that make you think, laugh, and cry.
• The best books on climate change and race
• The best great American novels from Appalachia
• The best books with strong emotion, excellent plotting, and vivid descriptions that put me securely in time and place
• The best books that expose the environmental and health impacts of mining
• The best middle grade books written by collaborators
• The best books about mining's effects on communities
• The best middle grade children’s books with wonderful weather magic
• The best poetry books to awaken your senses and connection to living in the natural world
• The best books with kick-ass heroes you don’t mess with
• The best books to understand the Western’s social unrest and decay
• The best books on what life was like on the American homefront during WW2
• The best books about surviving war (or not)
• The best books on the hi-tech world of our distant ancestors