Book Sense Book of the Year Award The Book Sense Book of the Year Award, formerly known as the American Booksellers Book of the Year (ABBY) Award, was inaugurated at BookExpo America 2000. The American Booksellers Association renamed the award in recognition of both a new era in bookselling, heralded by the Book Sense program, as well as the important role that the Book Sense Picks List (formerly the Book Sense 76) has played for independent booksellers in discovering and spreading the word to all stores about books of quality. Book Sense independent booksellers from across the country nominate the books that they most enjoyed handselling to their customers throughout the year for inclusion in the monthly Book Sense Picks. The books on each list represent a combined national and local staff pick selection of booksellers' favorites from more than 1,200 independent bookstores with Book Sense. 2007 Adult Fiction Winner Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen (Algonquin) Adult Fiction Honor Books The Brief History of the Dead: A Novel by Kevin Brockmeier (Pantheon) The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (Atlantic Monthly) The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Knopf) Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (Knopf) Adult Nonfiction Winner I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron (Knopf) Adult Nonfiction Honor Books The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson (Broadway) Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking) Thunderstruck by Erik Larson (Crown) The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan (Houghton Mifflin) Children's Literature Winner The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Knopf) Children's Literature Honor Books The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation, Volume One: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson (Candlewick) Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! by Lynne Truss; illustrated by Bonnie Timmons (Putnam); New Moon by Stephanie Meyer (Megan Tingley Books/Little, Brown) Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (Disney Editions) 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) 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 by Captain William Lubber; edited by Dugald A. Steer (Candlewick) 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); and 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); and 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) 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) 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 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) 2001 Adult Fiction Winner: The Red Tent, Anita Diamant (Picador USA) Adult Fiction Honor Books: Bee Season, Myla Goldberg (Doubleday) The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood (Doubleday/Nan Talese) The Hours, Michael Cunningham (Picador USA) House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III (Vintage) Adult Nonfiction Winner Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture, Ross King (Walker) Adult Nonfiction Honor Books: The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams: A Memoir, Nasdijj (Houghton Mifflin) Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain, Michael Paterniti (Dial) The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean (Ballantine) Woman: An Intimate Geography, Natalie Angier (Anchor) Children's Illustrated Winner: Olivia, Ian Falconer (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster) Children's Illustrated Honor Books: Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, Doreen Cronin; illustrated by Betsy Lewin (Simon & Schuster) How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, Jane Yolen; illustrated by Mark Teague (Scholastic) I Love You Like Crazy Cakes, Rose Lewis; illustrated by Jane Dyer (Little, Brown) Stranger in the Woods, Jean Stoik and Carl R. Sams II (Carl R. Sams II) Children's Literature Winner: Because of Winn-Dixie, Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick) Children's Literature Honor Books: The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket (HarperTrophy) The Giggler Treatment, Roddy Doyle (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine) Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli (Knopf) The Wanderer, Sharon Creech (HarperCollins) 2000 Adult Winner The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (HarperPerennial) Adult Honor Books Ahab's Wife, Sena Jeter Naslund (Morrow) Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Susan Vreeland (MacMurray & Beck) Isaac's Storm, Erik Larson (Crown) Plainsong, Kent Haruf (Knopf) Children's Winner The Quiltmaker's Gift, Jeff Brumbeau, illus. by Gail de Marcken (Pfeiffer-Hamilton) Children's Honor Books Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride, Pam Muñoz Ryan, illus. by Brian Selznick (Scholastic) Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte) Sector 7, David Wiesner (Houghton) The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury, edited by Jack Prelutsky, illus. by Meilo So (Knopf)