ANNOUNCING THE 2005 BOOK SENSE BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNERS

The American Booksellers Association is pleased to announce the winners of the 2005 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards. The winners in both adult and children's categories are those titles independent booksellers most enjoyed handselling during the past year, as voted by the owners and staff of ABA member bookstores.

The 2005 Book Sense Book of the Year winners are:

Adult Fiction -- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
Adult Nonfiction -- 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)
Children's Literature -- Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett, illustrated by Brett Helquist (Scholastic Press)
Children's Illustrated -- Duck for President, by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Now in its sixth year, the Book Sense Book of the Year Awards include, for the first time this year, four Book Sense Honor Books in each category. These are:

Adult Fiction: Eventide by Kent Haruf (Knopf); The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant (Random House); The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin); and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin Press).

Adult Nonfiction: 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 Illustrated: 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); and Wild About Books by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Marc Brown (Knopf Books for Young Readers).

Children's Literature: 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); and The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer (Richard Jackson/Antheneum/Simon & Schuster).

The Book Sense Book of the Year winners and honor books were selected by booksellers from titles most often nominated for the Book Sense Picks recommendation lists in 2004. Booksellers were also able to write-in titles on the ballot. Only books published in 2004 were eligible.