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Minnesota Book Awards Past Finalists and Winners - 1996
1988 | 1989 | 1991* | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998
1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
*Note: No awards were held in 1990.
Please also note that the award winners listed for each year were awarded in the year following publication (i.e. winners published in 2007 were announced in 2008 at the 20th Annual Minnesota Book Awards).
(Winners indicated by the 
icon; all others are Finalists)
1996 Biography
Jack and Rochelle: A Holocaust Story of Love and Resistance
Jack Sutin
Rochelle Sutin
Lawrence Sutin, editor
Graywolf Press
Everything You Wanted to Know About Sandy Berman But Were Afraid To Ask
Chris Dodge, editor
Jan DeSirey, editor
McFarland
Ira Gershwin: The Art of the Lyricist
Philip Furia
Oxford University Press
Norwegian Yankee: Knute Nelson and the Failure of American Politics, 1860-1923
Millard L. Gieske
Steven J. Keillor
The Norwegian-American Historical Association
1996 Children's Non-Fiction
Bookworks: Making Books by Hand
Gwenyth Swain, author
with Minnesota Center for Book Arts
Jennifer Hagerman, illustrator
Carolrhoda Books
A Writer's Story: From Life to Fiction
Marion Dane Bauer
Clarion Books
Kwanzaa Karamu: Cooking and Crafts for a Kwanzaan Feast
Maryann N. Brady
Barbara Knutson, illustrator
Robert L. Wolfe, photographer
Diane Wolfe. photographer
Carolrhoda Books
A Drummer-Boy's Diary: Comprising Four Years of Service with the Second Regiment Minnesota Veteran Volunteers, 1861-1865
Newell L. Chester, editor
North Star Press of Saint Cloud
Up to the Plate: The All American Girls Professional Baseball League
Margot Fortunato Galt
Lerner Publications
Electrifying Medicine: How Electricity Sparked a Medical Revolution
Brenda L. Himrich
Stew Thornley
Lerner Publications
1996 Collected Works
Imagining Home: Writing from the Midwest
Mark Vinz, editor
Thom Tammaro, editor
University of Minnesota Press
Ringing in the Wilderness: Selections from the North Country Anvil
Rhoda R. Gilman, editor
Holy Cow! Press
Twenty-six Minnesota Writers
Monica DeGrazia
Emilio DeGrazia
Nodin Press
1996 Fantasy & Science Fiction
Eagan The Unnatural
David Prill
St. Martins Press
Oakdale Headcrash
Bruce Bethke
Aspect Warner
Cat's Paw
L. A. Taylor
Ace
1996 Help & Guidance
Realistic Oil Painting Techniques
Kurt Anderson
North Light Books
Making Sense of Adolescence: How to Parent from the Heart
John Crudele
Richard A. Erickson
Triumph Books
England as You Like It: An Independent Traveler's Companion
Susan Allen Toth
Ballantine Books
1996 History
Professor Wellstone Goes to Washington
Dennis J. McGrath
Dane Smith
University of Minnesota Press
Upper Mississippi River History: Fact, Fiction, Legend
Ron Larson
Steamboat Press
Divided Waters: The Naval History of the Civil War
Ivan Musicant
HarperCollins
Gentle Warriors: Clara Ueland and the Minnesota Struggle for Woman Suffrage
Barbara Stuhler
Minnesota Historical Society Press
1996 Illustrated Book
The Architecture of Edwin Lunde
Dale Mulfinger
Peter Kerze, photographer
Eveleth Minnesota Historical Society Press
Duluth Portfolio
Craig Blacklock
Nadine Blacklock
Pfeifer-Hamilton
Minnesota, the Spirit of the Land
Douglas Wood
Greg Ryan, photographer
Saint Paul Voyageur Press
1996 Information
A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe
Earl Nyholm
University of Minnesota Press
Twin Cities Bicycling
Richard 'Fred' Arey
Minnesota Outdoor Press
Twin Cities Family Fun Spots
Lisa Sabroski
Blue Sky Marketing
1996 Minnesota
Minnesota Gardens: An Illustrated History
Susan Davis Price
Afton Historical Society Press
At the Headwaters: The 1993 Flood in Southwestern Minnesota: 40 Photos and 40 Essays
Joseph Amato, editor
Janet Timmerman, editor
Southwest State University Press
Gopher Glory: 100 Years of University of Minnesota Basketball
Steve Perlstein
Layers Publishing
1996 Mystery & Detective
Faint Praise: A Jane Lawless Mystery
Ellen Hart
Seal Press
The Ditched Blond
Harold Adams
Walker Publishing
Grave Choices
M. D. Lake, pseudonym for Allen Simpson
Avon Books
The Weatherman
Steve Thayer
Viking Press
1996 Nature
Minnesota's Natural Heritage
John R. Tester
University of Minnesota Press
Upland Game Birds
Dick Sternberg
Cy Decosse
Nature Smart: A Family Guide to Nature
Stan Tekiela
Karen Shanberg
Julie Janke, illustrator
Afton Adventure Publications
Minnesota's Saint Croix River Valley and Anoka Sandplain
Daniel Wovcha
Barbara C. Delaney
Gerda E. Nordquist
University of Minnesota Press
1996 Non-Fiction
Grass Roots: The Universe of Home
Paul Gruchow
Milkweed Editions
Dahcotah; or, Life and Legends of the Sioux Around Fort Snelling
Barbara J. Arney, designer
Mary Henderson Eastman, author
Afton Historical Society Press
Law v. Life: What Lawyers Are Afraid to Say About the Legal Profession
Walt Bachman
Four Directions Press
Passages of Pride: Lesbian and Gay Youth Come of Age
Kurt Chandler
Times Books
1996 Novel & Short Stories
Revealing the Unknown to a Pair of Lovers: Stories
Ann Lundberg Grunke
New Rivers Press
A .38 Special and a Broken Heart: Short Stories
Jonis Agee
Coffee House Press
Leech Lake When Beaver Was Very Great: Stories to Live By
Anne M. Dunn
Sharon L. White, illustrator
Midwest Traditions
Rookery Blues
Jon Hassler
Ballantine Books
Somebody Else's Mama
David Haynes
Milkweed Editions
Patty Jane's House of Curl
Lorna Landvik
Bridge Works Publishing
The Body is Water
Julie Schumacher
Soho Press
Little
David Treuer
Graywolf Press
1996 Personal Voices
Shepherdess: Notes from the Field
Joan Jarvis Ellison
Purdue University Press
Tales from Jackpine Bob
Bob Cary
Pfeifer-Hamilton
"Trust Me, I'm a Doctor": Humorous Second Opinions for Everyday Life
Mark DePaolis
Fairview Press
1996 Poetry
The Long Experience of Love
Jim Moore
Milkweed Editions
What They Always Were: Poems
Norita Dittberner-Jax
New Rivers Press
Happiness: Poems
Deborah Keenan
Coffee House Press
Silver Dollar: Poems
CarolAnn Russell
West End Press
When the Italians Came to My Town
Thom Tammaro
Spoon River Poetry Press
1996 Young Adult Fiction
Hometown
Marsha Qualey
Houghton Mifflin
River of Champions
Mary Halvorson
New Directions Press
Farm Team
Will Weaver
HarperCollins
1996 Younger Children
Ellis Island: Doorway to Freedom [Winner for illustrator]
Karen Ritz, illustrator
Steven Kroll, author
Holiday House
Daddy Played Music for the Cows [Winner for author]
Maryann N. Weidt
Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
When I Go Camping with Grandma
Marion Dane Bauer
Bridgewater Books
Gathering: A Northwoods Counting Book
Betsy Bowen
Little, Brown
Dance with Me
Barbara Juster Esbensen
HarperCollins
Cat, You Better Come Home
Steve Johnson, illustrator
Lou Fancher, illustrator
Garrison Keillor, author
Viking
Snail and Buffalo
Jim Latimer
Orchard Books
The Minnesota Book Awards is a Capital City project, led by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library,
in consortium with the Saint Paul Public Library and the Mayor’s office in the City of Saint Paul.
Outreach partners for the Book Awards include the Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA)
and the Minnesota Library Association (MLA).