The Book Sense Book of the Year Award was inaugurated at Book Expo America 2000. ABA rededicated the award (previously known as the ABBY) in recognition of a new era in bookselling, as well as the important role the Book Sense Picks List has played for independent booksellers in discovering and spreading the word about books of quality to all stores, and readers, nationwide.
Throughout the year, Book Sense independent booksellers from across the country nominate for inclusion in the monthly Book Sense Picks the books that they most enjoyed hand selling to their customers. The books on each list represent a combined national and local staff pick selection of booksellers' favorite's from more than 1,200 independent bookstores with Book Sense.
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2008 Book Sense Winners: A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hugo Cabret & Knuffle Bunny Shine- Again..
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March 21, Few surprises with the 2008 winners of the 2008 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards. Formerly known as the ABBY Award, the award honors the titles American Booksellers Association members most enjoyed hand selling during the last year.
Khaled Hosseini must be making booksellers very happy as A Thousand Splendid Suns
, which picked-up the fiction prize and just keeps rolling on gathering awards and nominations on a monthly basis Caldecott Medal winner, Brian Selznick's (right) The Invention of Hugo Cabret
is now officially in the hunt for one of the most awarded children's books of the last 6 months adding the Book Sense Childrens's Literature accolade to its achievements.
Mo Willems was also in the winners circle again for the ubiquitous Knuffle Bunny, who, if he hasn't already, will surely find a way in to every American home in 2008. Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity
is a delightful book and was a worthy winner of the Children's Illustrated award.
Perhaps the only surprise, though obviously not to the booksellers, was the nonfiction prize winner, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. Well done to all.
2008 Book Sense Winners
Fiction: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Nonfiction: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Children’s Literature: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Children’s Illustrated: Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (left)
An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932, by the best selling author of Riding Lessons. Sara Gruen has produced a compelling page turner that has been awarded the Adult Fiction Award by the Independent booksellers network.
Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford
Review- The New York Times - Elizabeth Judd
Circuses showcase human beings at their silliest and most sublime, and many unlikely literary figures have been drawn to their glitzy pageantry, soaring pretensions and metaphorical potential. Unsurprisingly, writers seem liberated by imagining a spectacle where no comparison ever seems inflated, no development impossible. For better and for worse, Gruen has fallen under the spell. With a showman's expert timing, she saves a terrific revelation for the final pages, transforming a glimpse of Americana into an enchanting escapist fairy tale.
About Sara Gruen
Sara is a Canadian-born dual citizen (Canadian and American) who moved to the States in 1999 for a technical writing job. When she was laid off two years later, instead of looking for another job, she decided to take a gamble on writing fiction full-time. Fortunately, the gamble paid off and she’s working Ape House, her fourth novel. Sara lives in northern Illinois with her husband, three children, two dogs, two cats, three goats, and horse in an environmentalist community. They are relocating to North Carolina this summer, and Sara already has her eye on another horse and a donkey
2007 Book Sense Award Winners
Adult Fiction Winner
Water for Elephants: A Novel 
by Sara Gruen (Algonquin)
Adult Nonfiction Winner I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
by Nora Ephron (Knopf)
Children's Literature Winner The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Knopf)
Children's Illustrated Winner Owen & Mzee: The True Story Of A Remarkable Friendship
by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Dr. Paul Kahumbu; photos by Peter Greste (Scholastic)
Book Sense 2007 Honor Winners
Adult Fiction Honor Books
The Brief History of the Dead
by Kevin Brockmeier (Pantheon)
The Inheritance of Loss
by Kiran Desai (Atlantic Monthly)
The Road
by Cormac McCarthy (Knopf)
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Adult Nonfiction Honor Books
by Bill Bryson (Broadway)
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking)
Thunderstruck
by Erik Larson (Crown)
by Timothy Egan (Houghton Mifflin
Children's Literature Honor Books
by M.T. Anderson (Candlewick)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
by Lynne Truss; illustrated by Bonnie Timmons (Putnam)
New Moon (Twilight, Book 2)
by Stephanie Meyer (Megan Tingley Books/Little, Brown)
Peter and the Shadow Thieves
by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (Disney Editions)
Children's Illustrated Honor Books
Fancy Nancy
by Jane O'Connor; illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser (HarperCollins)
Flotsam
by David Wiesner (Clarion Books)
Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen; illustrated by Kevin Hawkes (Candlewick)
Pirateology: The Pirate Hunter's Companion Companion by Captain William Lubber; edited by Dugald A. Steer (Candlewick)
Past Winners of the Book Sense Awards
2006
Adult Fiction Winner
The Historian: A Novel by Elizabeth Kostova (Little, Brown)
Adult Fiction Honor Books
Kafka on the Shore: A Novel by Haruki Murakami (Knopf)
The March: A Novel by E.L. Doctorow (Random House)
Saturday: A Novel by Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel by Lisa See (Random House)
Adult Nonfiction Winner
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow)
Adult Nonfiction Honor Books
The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls (Scribner/S&S)
The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece by Jonathan Harr (Random House)
Marley & Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan (William Morrow/HarperCollins)
The Tender Bar: A Memoir by J.R. Moehringer (Hyperion)
Children's Literature Winner
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (Chicken House/Scholastic)
Children's Literature Honor Books
A Dog's Life: The Autobiography of a Stray by Ann M. Martin (Scholastic)
Eldest: Inheritance, Book 2 by Christopher Paolini (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Flush by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Children's Illustrated Winner
Zen Shorts by Jon J Muth (Scholastic Press)
Children's Illustrated Honor Books
Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin; illustrated by Harry Bliss (Joanna Cotler Books/HarperCollins)
Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert (Harcourt Children's Books)
Leonardo, The Terrible Monster by Mo Willems (Hyperion Books for Children)
Seen Art? By Jon Scieszka; illustrated by Lane Smith (Viking Juvenile/Penguin USA)
2005
Adult Fiction Winner
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
Adult Fiction Honor Books
Eventide by Kent Haruf (Knopf)
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant (Random House)
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin Press)
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Adult Nonfiction Winner
Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson (Random House)
Adult Nonfiction Honor Books
Candyfreak by Steve Almond (Algonquin and Harcourt)
The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker, Robert Mankoff (Ed.) (Black Dog & Leventhal)
Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs (St. Martin's)
Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett (HarperCollins)
Children's Literature Winner
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett, illustrated by Brett Helquist (Scholastic Press)
Children's Literature Honor Books
Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan (Scholastic)
Ida B ... and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World by Katherine Hannigan (Greenwillow/HarperCollins)
Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (Disney Editions)
The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer (Richard Jackson/Antheneum/Simon & Schuster)
Children's Illustrated Winner
Duck for President by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Children's Illustrated Honor Books
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henke (Greenwillow/HarperCollins)
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems (Hyperion Books for Young Readers)
Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle (Philomel/Penguin USA)
Wild About Books by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Marc Brown (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
2004
Adult Fiction Winner
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday)
Adult Fiction Honor Books
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Doubleday)
The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich (HarperCollins)
Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh (Morrow)
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (MacAdam/Cage)
Adult Nonfiction Winner
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi (Random House)
Adult Nonfiction Honor Books
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson (Crown)
Flyboys: A True Story of Courage by James Bradley (Little, Brown)
Michelangelo & The Pope's Ceiling by Ross King (Walker)
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder (Random House)
Children's Literature Winner
Eragon: The Inheritance, Book I by Christopher Paolini (Knopf)
Children's Literature Honor Books
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code (Book 3) by Eoin Colfer (Miramax)
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (Chicken House/Scholastic)
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares (Delacorte)
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo; illus. by Timothy Basil Ering (Candlewick)
Children's Illustrated Winner
How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long; illus. by David Shannon (Harcourt)
Children's Illustrated Honor Books
Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French; illus. by Bruce Whatley (Clarion Books)
Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin; illus. by Harry Bliss (Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins)
Old Turtle and the Broken Truth by Douglas Wood; illus. by Jon J. Muth (Scholastic)
Olivia ... and the Missing Toy by Ian Falconer (Atheneum)
Paperback Winner
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin)
Paperback Honor Books
Atonement by Ian McEwan (Anchor)
The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer (Vintage)
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore (Perennial)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harvest)
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2003
Adult Fiction Winner
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, Little, Brown
Adult Fiction Honor Books
Atonement, by Ian McEwan, Nan Talese/Doubleday
The Crimson Petal and the White, by Michel Faber, Harcourt
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, Harcourt
The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, Viking
Adult Nonfiction Winner
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, by Alexandra Fuller, Random House
Adult Nonfiction Honor Books
Blue Latitudes, by Tony Horwitz, Holt
My Losing Season, by Pat Conroy, Doubleday
Population: 485, by Michael Perry, HarperCollins
Running With Scissors, by Augusten Burroughs, St. Martin's
Children's Literature Winner
The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke, Chicken House/Scholastic
Children's Literature Honor Books
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident, by Eoin Colfer, Hyperion
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins
Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen, Knopf
Summerland, by Michael Chabon, Miramax
Children's Illustrated Winner
Dear Mrs. LaRue, by Mark Teague, Scholastic
Children's Illustrated Honor Books
Giggle, Giggle, Quack, by Doreen Cronin; illustrated by Betsy Lewin, Simon & Schuster
The Three Questions, by Jon J. Muth, Scholastic
The Spider & The Fly, by Mary Howitt; illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, Simon & Schuster
Toot & Puddle: Top of the World, by Holly Hobbie, Little, Brown
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Rediscovery Winner
The Children of Green Knowe, by L. M. Boston, Odyssey/Harcourt
Rediscovery Honor Books
Auntie Mame, by Patrick Dennis, Broadway
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, by Chris Fuhrman, University of Georgia Press
Paper Moon, by Joe David Brown, Four Walls Eight Windows
The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake, by Breece D'J Pancake, Back Bay
Paperback Winner
Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett, Perennial
Paperback Honor Books
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Sijie Dai, Anchor
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, by Brady Udall, Vintage
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith, Anchor
Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks, Penguin
2002
Adult Fiction Winner
Peace Like a River, Leif Enger (Atlantic Monthly)
Adult Fiction Honor Books
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)
Adult Nonfiction Winner
Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand (Random House)
Adult Nonfiction Honor Books
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)
Children's Literature Winner
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares (Delacorte)
Children's Literature Honor Books
Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison (HarperCollins)
Love That Dog, Sharon Creech (HarperCollins)
Witness, Karen Hesse (Scholastic)
You Read to Me & I'll Read to You, Janet Schulman, ed. (Random House)
Children's Illustrated Winner
Olivia Saves the Circus, Ian Falconer (Atheneum)
Children's Illustrated Honor Books
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)
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 Winner
My Father's Dragon, Ruth Stiles Gannett, illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett (Random House)
Rediscovery Honor Books
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)
Time Stops for No Mouse, Michael Hoeye (Putnam)
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