40 Inspiring Books About National Parks

I’ve loved a lot of Peter Heller’s books (especially The River) so this one is definitely going on my TBR. It’s about a National Park ranger, Ren Hopper, who discovers a poacher in the woods in Yellowstone on this day off. But as he starts to investigate, it leads him to a deeper conspiracy. For fans of mystery and suspense.

After their father dies, two brothers living on the edge of Yellowstone are fighting for survival. They have a lot of debts, so they agree to an illegal poaching scheme. The subject matter might mean this book isn’t for sensitive animal lovers, but readers say this book has a strong sense of place and it’s for fans of Westerns and character driven stories that still have an element of suspense.

This mystery/crime novel is set in Glacier National Park. At it’s center is Ted, a Special Agent for the Department of the Interior, who gets called to Glacier to investigate a man who was tied to a tree and mauled by a bear. And what he finds mirrors his past, when his own father was killed by a grizzly in Glacier decades prior. This is for fans of mysteries and suspense.

I know a lot of people love Barr’s Anna Pigeon mystery series, all set in National Parks. This is the first one, set in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. In it, Anna investigates the murder of a park ranger who was supposedly attacked by a mountain lion. But she’s pretty sure there was a different cause of death. For fans of mystery and detective stories.

This literary fiction novel pits two people against each other in Channel Islands National Park. Alma is a biologist working to save endangered species on the Channel Islands while Dave is determined to thwart her because he has a different perspective on saving animals. And their feud could have dangerous consequences. For fans of literary fiction with strong plots and that ask questions (here, about the nuances of conservation).

This novel follows Elijah Yancey, once enslaved, who travels from South Carolina to Nebraska to the Philippines before he finally lands in Yosemite National Park. He is part of the US calvary (a Buffalo soldier), and he finds new life and an important connection with the natural world through his work at Yosemite. For fans of historical and literary fiction.

This book is set in Yellowstone in 1898 as a woman named Alexandria joins a scientific study doing field work. They aren’t pleased to learn she is a woman, but they continue anyway. As they work though, their group becomes fractioned as they see their work differently. This is written as letters, so great for fans of epistolary novels.

With so many books about National Parks written as mysteries and adventure stories, I was really glad to find a rom-com set in a National Park! (Although, there is a murder in this one too…)

This is about Emily, who is visiting Isle Royale National Park, and Ryder, who she hires as her tour guide. The only problem is Ryder is most definitely not well-versed as an outdoor adventure guide (that was his brother’s job in their shared company before he died). And when things start to go wrong, they need to work together to survive. For fans of rom-coms.

This is another National Parks travel memoir, but with a bit of a different take. Roberson brings lots of humor to this book, but also serious examination. Why are so many find-freedom-in-nature memoirs written by men? And is it really so great that National Parks are so popular?

She also examines more tongue-in-cheek questions, like, will she really be murdered like all her friends and family are *convinced* will happen to her as a woman traveling solo through National Parks. There’s lots of humor in this one that made me laugh, but I also appreciated the serious questions it raised. For fans of travel memoirs.

Andrea Lankford spent years working in some of America’s most popular National Parks (like Zion and the Grand Canyon). And here she gives readers a behind the scenes look at what the work is really like: from dangerous animal encounters to rescuing visitors and more. For fans of memoirs and adventure.

If you’d like a dose of laughter with your National Parks books, here’s the book for you. In this collection, Share combines facts about America’s National Parks with one-star reviews visitors have left. Things like “Looks nothing like the license plate” when talking about Arches National Park, and my personal favorite about Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park: “Didn’t even get to touch lava.” Uhm, friend? What expectation did you have? For fans of humor.

In his late forties, Mark Woods decides to embark on a year exploring America’s National Parks and recreating the feeling he had in childhood on his own family vacations. He plans to take his own family along with his aging mother.

But things take a turn when his mother is diagnosed with cancer. This book sounds like it combines some of my favorite things: National Parks travel with meaningful reflections on family, so it’s definitely going on my TBR. For fans of travel memoirs.

Desert Solitaire is a series of essays from park ranger Edward Abbey who worked in Arches National Park. And while there’s a lot here about the ins and outs of being a park rangers, it’s also highly philosophical. I haven’t read this one yet, but it’s definitely going on my TBR because I love quiet and reflective books. For fans of nature writing.

Understanding the Native people who called our National Parks home before they became part of the US National Park system is so important. And this book details the story of the Havasupai people, how much of their land was taken from them, and how in 1975 a chunk was restored to them. For fans of history.

I haven’t read this one yet, but I have heard nothing but good things about it so it’s high on my list. Even though I am a little put off by the fact that these two men tried to hike their way around the Grand Canyon is no preparation (who doesn’t prepare for something like that?!), I still want to give it a try.

This is a memoir about Fedarko and his friend Pete McBride, who spend a year hiking the entire canyon. Things get extremely dangerous of course, but they also find a new way of seeing and understanding Grand Canyon National Park. For fans of adventure stories.

Also by Fedarko is this narrative non-fiction book about a man named Kenton Gruawho takes a boat down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. But it isn’t just any trip on the Colorado River. It’s a trip during historic flooding that had the river rushing, and Grua wants to use the event as a chance to break the record for the fastest boat to ever go through the Grand Canyon. For fans of adventure stories.

If you like National Parks history but also adventure, then this book is for you! It’s the story of two women, Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, who journeyed down the dangerous Colorado River in 1938 to study and record the plant life in the Grand Canyon.

There’s lots about plants here, of course. But there’s also river danger and the story of two women overcoming the doubt of so many people around them. For fans of history and adventure stories, and also botany.

This is the story of an experienced backcountry ranger, Randy Morgenson, who disappeared in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Kings Canyon National Park. It combines outdoor adventure with the biography of this interesting man, show what influenced him to do the work he did. For fans of adventure stories.

Lollie Winans and Julie Williams were experienced outdoorswomen. So when they didn’t come back from a camping trip in Shenandoah National Park, it was clear something was very wrong. When park rangers went to investigate, they found the women murdered in their tents.

As Miles starts looking into this crime though, she is convinced police have the wrong man. And she dives deep into the evidence to prove what really happened. For fans of true crime.

When a little girl goes camping in the Great Smoky Mountains with her family, she sneaks off one night and discovers the salamanders having a ball. Kids will love the bright illustrations and they rhyming text of this one. Recommended ages: 1-10 years.

This beautifully illustrated book teaches kids all about sequoias: their start as tiny seeds, the giant heights they grow to, and even how fires are important in their life cycle. Perfect if you’re traveling to Sequoia National Park or Yosemite. Recommended ages: 4-8 years.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas was an important activist for the Everglades. In 1947, she published her book A River of Grass, which helped save the Everglades and lead to their establishment of a National Park. This book teaches kids all about the plants and animals in the Everglades as well as the work that Douglas did. Recommended ages: 4-8 years.

Jane is ready to spend the summer on screens, but her parents announce they are taking a road trip across America’s National Parks. At first she doesn’t appreciate it, but slowly as they drive across the country she starts to love the outdoors and the National Parks. Recommended ages: 5-8 years.

This picture book using the format of “The House That Jack Built” to show how restoring wolves to Yellowstone in 1995 helped restore an ecosystem. I love the colorful illustrations in this one, and how it’s not just the poem, but the pages also have more information to explain how everything is connected. Recommended ages: 5-8 years.

This is a beautiful book full of facts about the Grand Canyon. I learned so much from reading it even as an adult, and I loved the illustrations of details about the canyon, like the rock layers and different animals found in the canyon. It takes readers back in time to what the canyon looked like millions of years ago, which I thought was such a great perspective. This is a must-read if your family is heading to the Grand Canyon! Recommended ages: 5-10 years.

Much like he does in Grand Canyon, here Jason Chin puts a young boy in the Redwood forests. When a boy starts reading a book about redwoods on the subway, the world around him slowly turns into the forest while readers learn tons of facts about these majestic trees. Perfect read before visiting Redwood National Park or Muir Woods. Recommended ages: 5-10 years.

This picture book recounts a camping trip Theodore Roosevelt took with John Muir to Yosemite, and how it eventually led to the establishment of our National Parks. There’s a lot of text here, so don’t expect this to be a quick picture book read. Recommended ages: 6-10 years.

This picture book tells the story of reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995. And it shows kids the connection of how the disappearance of the wolves in the 1930s impacted the entire ecosystem. The description says this book is for kids ages 5-8 years, but I was surprised by how much text was in it, so I’d say it’s more for kids ages 7-10 years.

This book tells the story of Wolf 8 in Yellowstone who was a small and timid wolf as a pup but overcame all kinds of challenges to become an alpha male of a pack. This is great for readers who love animal stories and would be a great book to hand your middle grade readers before a trip to Yellowstone. Recommended ages: 9-12 years.

In this historical novel for middle grade readers, Elias is a boy with consumption (tuberculosis) who is sent to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky to heal. But there he discovers a community of people who have escaped slavery, and he want to help them. Recommended ages: 9-13 years.

Lizzie lives on a zoo with her dad and loves the animals there. Then one day she discovers a runaway boy who is hiding in the zoo and they strike up a friendship, eventually working to solves the mystery of why the wolves at the zoo are mysteriously dying. And of course, this mystery leads them through an adventure in Yosemite National Park. Recommended ages: 9-14 years.

I love books of maps! And this is a fun run with illustrated cartoonish drawings of America’s National Parks along with facts about the major features of each park. Recommended ages: 9 and up. (Although it’s definitely not inappropriate for anyone younger or older!)

This book is perfect of adventure story loves. Jessie is 15 years old, and has been sent to a camp near the Grand Canyon. She and six of her fellow campers want out through, so they take some of the rafts and embark on their own adventure down the Colorado River. At first it’s great, but the quickly find danger. Recommended ages: 10-14 years.

Becka and KJ are cousins, but their family is estranged and they kind of hate each other. When their grandfather dies though, he leaves them an inheritance with a caveat: They have to take at trip together across some of America’s National Parks (like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone) and other beautiful landscapes first. And it just might bring both sides of the family back together. Recommended ages: 13 and up.