Announcing the Inaugural Inductees to the Indies Choice Picture Book Hall of Fame

After more than four weeks of voting by booksellers at independent bookstores across the country, the American Booksellers Association today announces the first three inductees to the Indies Choice Book Awards Picture Book Hall of Fame.

From a list of 13 finalists, the owners and staff at ABA member stores cast votes for three favorites. The 2009 inductees into the Indies Choice Picture Book Hall of Fame, as chosen by indie booksellers, are:

• Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak (HarperCollins)
• Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey (Viking Juvenile)
• Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems (Hyperion Books for Children)

"ABA members have fittingly chosen two perennial favorites and a modern classic as the first inductees to the Indies Choice Book Awards Picture Book Hall of Fame, created to bring well-deserved attention to the wonderful backlist titles handsold at independent bookstores from coast to coast," said ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz. "These three titles, which have made frequent appearances on Indie Bestsellers lists over the years, are a terrific beginning for a new annual tradition."

Other finalists for induction to the Picture Book Hall of Fame in 2009 were:

• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst & Ray Cruz (Atheneum)
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault and Lois Ehlert (Simon & Schuster)
• Corduroy, by Don Freeman (Viking)
• Curious George, by H.A. Rey (Houghton Mifflin)
• Goodnight Gorilla, by Peggy Rathmann (Putnam)
• The Little Engine That Could, by Watty Piper (Grosset & Dunlap/Philomel)
• Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans (Viking)
• Napping House, by Audrey Wood (Harcourt)
• Stellaluna, by Janelle Cannon (Harcourt)
• The Story of Ferdinand the Bull, by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson (Viking)

These 10 titles will appear on the Hall of Fame ballot for 2010, along with additional titles added by next year's jury.

Jury members selecting the 2009 finalists were Carla Jimenez of Inkwood Books in Tampa, Florida; Mitch Kaplan of South Florida and the Cayman Islands' Books & Books; Arsen Kashkashian of Colorado's Boulder Book Store; Valerie Koehler of Houston's Blue Willow Bookshop; Collette Morgan of Minneapolis' Wild Rumpus; and Matt Norcross of McLean & Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Michigan. The jury was chaired by ABA Board member Cathy Langer of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado. --Rosemary Hawkins