Voting Opens for 2015 Indies Choice/E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards Finalists

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Booksellers at all ABA member stores invited to cast their ballots

With the announcement today of the finalists for the 2015 Indies Choice Book Awards and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards, booksellers at American Booksellers Association member stores across the country will begin voting to choose the winners in eight categories. Voting is being conducted online between now and midnight EDT on Tuesday, April 14.

All of this year’s finalists represent the types of books that indie booksellers champion best. The E.B. White Read-Aloud finalists also reflect the playful, well-paced language, the engaging themes, and the universal appeal to a wide range of ages embodied by E.B. White’s collection of beloved books.

Every bookseller at an ABA member store is encouraged to vote; one ballot per person will be accepted. One book in each category will be declared the winner, with the exception of the Picture Book Hall of Fame, where booksellers will choose three inductees. The winners will be announced on Thursday, April 16, and will be feted along with the honor book recipients at ABA’s Celebration of Bookselling Author Awards Luncheon on Thursday, May 28, at BookExpo America 2015 in New York City.

The finalists in the Indies Choice Book Award categories of Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, and Adult Debut were chosen by a jury of six ABA member booksellers from titles appearing on the 2014 Indie Next Lists. The finalists for the Indies Choice Book Award in the Young Adult category and for the E.B. White Read-Aloud Middle Reader and Picture Book awards were chosen by a jury of six children’s booksellers from the ABC Children’s Group at ABA. Finalists were chosen from titles appearing on the 2014 Kids’ Indie Next Lists, with additional titles for the E.B. White awards nominated by ABC Group members. The finalists for the 2015 Indie Champion Award were chosen by both juries.

This year’s finalists are:

BOOK OF THE YEAR – ADULT FICTION

  • All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel, by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)
  • The Bone Clocks: A Novel, by David Mitchell (Random House)
  • The Magician’s Land: A Novel, by Lev Grossman (Viking)
  • The Museum of Extraordinary Things: A Novel, by Alice Hoffman (Scribner)
  • Natchez Burning: A Novel, by Greg Iles (William Morrow)
  • Station Eleven: A Novel, by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf)

BOOK OF THE YEAR – ADULT NONFICTION

  • Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande (Metropolitan Books)
  • Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir, by Roz Chast (Bloomsbury)
  • The Empathy Exams: Essays, by Leslie Jamison (Graywolf Press)
  • In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette, by Hampton Sides (Doubleday)
  • Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson (Spiegel & Grau)
  • On Immunity: An Inoculation, by Eula Biss (Graywolf Press)

BOOK OF THE YEAR – ADULT DEBUT

  • Fourth of July Creek: A Novel, by Smith Henderson (Ecco)
  • I Am Pilgrim: A Thriller, by Terry Hayes (Emily Bestler Books/Atria)
  • The Martian: A Novel, by Andy Weir (Crown)
  • Painted Horses: A Novel, by Malcolm Brooks (Grove Press)
  • The Queen of the Tearling: A Novel, by Erika Johansen (Harper)
  • Shotgun Lovesongs: A Novel, by Nickolas Butler (Thomas Dunne Books)

BOOK OF THE YEAR – YOUNG ADULT

  • The Darkest Part of the Forest, by Holly Black (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
  • Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future, by A.S. King (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
  • Noggin, by John Corey Whaley (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
  • The Shadow Hero, by Gene Luen Yang, Sonny Liew (Illus.) (First Second)
  • Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel: A Novel, by Sara Farizan (Algonquin Young Readers)
  • This One Summer, by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki (First Second)

E.B. WHITE READ-ALOUD AWARD – MIDDLE READER

  • The Boundless, by Kenneth Oppel, Jim Tierney (Illus.) (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
  • Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy Paulsen Books)
  • The Fourteenth Goldfish, by Jennifer L. Holm (Random House Books for Young Readers)
  • A Snicker of Magic, by Natalie Lloyd (Scholastic)
  • The Terrible Two, by Mac Barnett and Jory John, Kevin Cornell (Illus.) (Amulet Books)
  • The War That Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Dial Books for Young Readers)

E.B. WHITE READ-ALOUD AWARD – PICTURE BOOK

  • Goodnight Already!, by Jory John, Benji Davies (Illus.) (HarperCollins)
  • Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads, by Bob Shea, Lane Smith (Illus.) (Roaring Brook Press)
  • Last Stop on Market Street, by Matt de la Peña, Christian Robinson (Illus.) (Putnam Young Readers)
  • Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, by Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen (Illus.) (Candlewick)
  • The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade, by Justin Roberts, Christian Robinson (Illus.) (Putnam Young Readers)
  • This Is a Moose, by Richard T. Morris, Tom Lichtenheld (Illus.) (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

PICTURE BOOK HALL OF FAME

  • Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey (Viking Books for Young Readers)
  • Eloise, by Kay Thompson, Hilary Knight (Illus.) (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
  • Frog and Toad, by Arnold Lobel (HarperCollins)
  • If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff, Felicia Bond (Illus.) (HarperCollins)
  • Jumanji, by Chris Van Allsburg (HMH Books for Young Readers)
  • Millions of Cats, by Wanda Gag (Putnam Young Readers)
  • Olivia, by Ian Falconer (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
  • Strega Nona, by Tomi dePaola (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
  • Swimmy, by Leon Lionni (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
  • Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Stieg (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
  • Tikki Tikki Tembo, by Arlene Mosel, Blair Lent (Illus.) (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
  • Tuesday, by David Weisner (HMH Books for Young Readers)

INDIE CHAMPION AWARD

The Indie Champion Award is presented to the author, illustrator, or group that, in the opinion of booksellers, has the best sense of the importance of independent bookstores to their communities at large and the strongest personal commitment to foster and support the mission and passion of independent booksellers. ABA invites readers to learn more about the finalists by clicking on their names below:

To help booksellers promote the finalists in newsletters and other marketing materials, the Indies Choice and E.B. White awards logos are available in BookWeb’s Designs and Downloads.

Members of this year’s Indies Choice Book Awards jury for the adult categories were Jamie Fiocco,  Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Chair); Maryelizabeth Hart, Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, California; Ruth Love, Aaron’s Books, Lititz, Pennsylvania; Stephen Sparks, Green Apple Books on the Park, San Francisco, California; Linda Bond, Auntie’s Bookstore, Spokane, Washington; and Lynn Riehl, Nicola’s Books, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The 2015 jury members for the children’s categories were Hannah Moushabeck, Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, Massachusetts (Chair); Kelsy April, Bank Square Books, Mystic, Connecticut; Betsy Balyeat, The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, Winnetka, Illinois; Liesl Freudenstein, Boulder Book Store, Boulder, Colorado; Caitlin Luce Baker, University Book Store, Seattle, Washington; and Erin Barker, Hooray for Books!, Alexandria, Virginia.

All ABA member booksellers are invited to cast their ballots now.