2002 Book Sense Book of the Year Finalists Announced

Based on the nominations of ABA member booksellers, the Book Sense Book of the Year Award finalists in five categories were announced on February 13 by the American Booksellers Association. Booksellers will vote for one winner in each category -- Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Children's Literature, Children's Illustrated, and, new this year, Rediscovery. Nominations were drawn from the Top Ten Book Sense 76 picks of 2001. Only books published in the preceding year were eligible, except nominations for the Rediscovery Award, which drew from past favorites now in new editions.

The tabulation of votes is being handled by KPMG and the results will be kept secret until the winners are announced at the Celebration of Bookselling on Friday, May 3, at this year's BookExpo America held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Commenting on the finalists, ABA President Neal Coonerty said, "Once again, I think any independent bookseller looking over this list of titles would have to feel proud. These books truly represent both the diversity and the outstanding quality of the wide range of adult and children's fiction and nonfiction -- all showcased in the Book Sense 76 -- that independent booksellers successfully handsell to their customers."

The finalists are listed in alphabetical order by title within each category:

ADULT FICTION

• The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn (MacAdam/Cage)
• Empire Falls, Richard Russo (Knopf)
• The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, Louise Erdrich (HarperCollins)
• Peace Like a River, Leif Enger (Atlantic Monthly)

ADULT NONFICTION

• Ava's Man, Rick Bragg (Knopf)
• The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World, Michael Pollan (Random House)
• Fast Food Nation, Eric Schossler (Houghton Mifflin)
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich (Metropolitan/Holt)
• Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand (Random House)

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

• Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison (HarperCollins)
• Love That Dog, Sharon Creech (HarperCollins)
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares (Delacorte)
• Witness, Karen Hesse (Scholastic)
• You Read to Me & I'll Read to You, Janet Schulman, ed. (Random House)

CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATED

• The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)
• Olivia Saves the Circus, Ian Falconer (Atheneum)
• Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, Patty Lovell, illustrated by David Catrow (Putnam)
• Take Me Out of the Bathtub: And Other Silly Dilly Songs, Alan Katz, illustrated by David Catrow (Margaret McElderry Books/S&S)
• The Water Hole, Graeme Base (Abrams)

REDISCOVERY

• Enchantress From the Stars, Sylvia Louise Engdahl (Walker)
• Freddy the Detective, Walter R. Brooks, illustrated by Kurt Wiese (Overlook/Penguin)
• Handling Sin, Michael Malone (Sourcebooks)
• My Father's Dragon, Ruth Stiles Gannett, illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett (Random House)
• Time Stops for No Mouse, Michael Hoeye (Putnam)

The Book Sense Book of the Year was first awarded in 2000, as a successor to the ABBY, the American Booksellers Book of the Year, which was established in 1991, to honor the books that independent booksellers most enjoyed selling. The Book Sense Book of the Year award was inaugurated at BookExpo America 2000. ABA renamed the award in recognition of the growing strength of the Book Sense program, as well as the important role that the Book Sense 76 List has played for independent booksellers in discovering and spreading the word to all stores about books of quality. In 2000, the Book Sense Book of the Year was awarded in both the Adult and Children's categories. In 2001, two more categories were added, Children's Illustrated and Nonfiction. This year, awards will be given for Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Children's Illustrated, Children's Literature, and Rediscovery.

For more in-depth descriptions of this year's nominees, click here.

To read about past winners of the Book Sense Book of Year Awards, click here.