Minnesota Book Awards Past Finalists and Winners
by Award Year, 1988-2007

1988 | 1989 | 1991* | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997
1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007

*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 2006 were announced in 2007 at the 19th 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: A Novel
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

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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).