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Minnesota Book Awards Past Finalists and Winners - 1997
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)
1997 Biography and History
Ado Leopold: A Fierce Green Fire
Marybeth Lorbiecki
Falcon Publishing
Remembering China, 1935-1945: A Memoir
Bea Exner Liu
New Rivers Press
F. Scott Fitzgerald in Minnesota: Toward the Summit
Dave Page
John Koblas
North Star Press of St. Cloud
And Prairie Dogs Weren't Kosher: Jewish Women in the Upper Midwest Since 1855
Linda Mack Schloff
Minnesota Historical Society Press
1997 Children's Non-Fiction
Snapshot: America Discovers the Camera
Kenneth P. Czech
Lerner Publications
Jimmy Carter: On the Road to Peace
Carol Lazo
Dillon Press
Diseases: Finding the Cure
Robert Mulcahy
The Oliver Press
Free to Dream. The Making of a Poet: Langston Hughes
Audrey Osofsky
Lothrop, Lee & Shepard
1997 Collected Works
Changing the Bully that Rules the World: Reading and Thinking About Ethics
Carol Bly, editor
Milkweed Editions
Irene: Selected Writings of Irene Paul
Gayla Ellis and others, editors
Midwest Villages & Voices
The Frederick Manfred Reader
John Calvin Rezmerski, editor
Holy Cow! Press
Going to the Lake
Betty Rossi, editor
Elmo Heggie, editor
Loonfeather Press
1997 Help & Guidance
The Manipulative Child: How to Gain Control and Raise Resilient, Resourceful, and Independent Kids
E. W. Swihart
Patrick D. Cotter
Macmillan
Lifekeys: Discovering Who You Are, Why You're Here, What You Do Best
Jane A. G. Kise
David Stark
Bethany House Press
Cooperation Works: How People Are Using Cooperative Action to Rebuild Communities and Revitalize the Economy
E. G. Nadeau
Loan Oak Press
The Smart Consumers Book of Questions
Linda Mack Ross
Chicago Review Press
1997 Illustrated Books
Minnesota's Architect: The Life and Work of Clarence H. Johnston
Paul Clifford Larson
Afton Historical Society Press
Maya Quest: The Interactive Expedition
Dan Buettner
Onion Press
Frogtown: Photographs and Conversations in an Urban Neighborhood
Wing Young Huie
Minnesota Historical Society Press
Twin Cites Then and Now
Larry Millett
Jerry Mathiason, photographer
Minnesota Historical Society Press
1997 Information
Canoe Country Flora: Plants and Trees of the North Woods and Boundary Waters
Mark Stensaas
Pfeifer-Hamilton
Fred's Best Guide to Twin Cities Winter Recreation
Richard 'Fred' Arey
Minnesota Outdoor Press
Nature's Revenge: The Secrets of Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, Poison Sumac, and Their Remedies
Susan Hauser
Lyons & Burford
A Field Guide to Cows
John Pukite
Falcoln Press Publishing
1997 Memoirs
Patty's Journey: From Orphanage to Adoption and Reunion
Donna Scott Norling
University of Minnesota Press
Crossing the Moon: A Journey Through Infertility
Paulette Bates Alden
Hungry Mind Press
Rescuing Little Roundhead
Syl Jones
Milkweed Editions
Where the Body Meets Memory: An Odyssey of Race, Sexuality and Identity
David Mura
Anchor Books
1997 Minnesota Places
Tales of the Old North Shore: Paintings and Companion Stories
Howard Sivertson
Lake Superior Port Cities
To Call It Home: The New Immigrants of Southwestern Minnesota
Joseph A. Amato and others
Crossings Press
Afton Remembered
Edwin G. Robb
Afton Historical Society Press
Grand Avenue: The Renaissance of an Urban Street
Billoine Whiting Young
David Lanegran
North Star Press of St. Cloud
1997 Mystery & Detective
Silent Words
Joan M. Drury
Spinsters Ink
The Oldest Sin
Ellen Hart
Ballantine Books
The Mortal Nuts
Pete Hautman
Simon & Schuster
1997 Nature
Far From Tame: Reflections From the Heart of a Continent
Laurie Allmann
University of Minnesota Press
North Country Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to the Great Outdoors
Anne Braatas
Pioneer Books
Explorations in the Ordinary: A Backyard Naturalist's View of Minnesota
David R. Moffatt
North Star Press of St. Cloud
Smithson's Island: The Necessity of Solitude
Judith Ann Smithson
Lone Oak Press
1997 Non-Fiction
The Garden of Eating: Food, Sex and the Hunger for Meaning
Jeremy Iggers
Basic Books
The American Barbershop: A Closer Look at a Disappearing Place
Mic Hunter
Face to Face Books
The Last Word on Lutefisk: True Tales of Cod and Tradition
Gary Legwold
Conrad Henry Press
1997 Novels
Tales of Burning Love
Louise Erdrich
Harper Collins
Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears
Diane Glancy
Harcourt Brace
Live at Five
David Haynes
Milkweed Editions
The Empress of One
Faith Sullivan
Milkweed Editions
1997 Personal Voices
The Heart Can Be Filled Anywhere on Earth: Minneota, Minnesota
Bill Holm
Milkweed Editions
*Also winner of the 1997 John T. Flanagan Award
The Snow Lotus: Exploring the Eternal Moment
Peter Leschak
University of Minnesota Press
A Haunting Reverence: Meditations on a Northern Land
Kent Nerburn
New World Library
1997 Picture Books
Aunt Nancy and Old Man Trouble
Phyllis Root, author
Candlewick Press
Mud
Lauren Stringer, illustrator
Harcourt Brace
The Fiddler of the Northern Lights
Leslie W. Bowman, illustrator
Cobblehill Books/Dutton
Night Driving
John Coy, author
Henry Holt & Company
My Many Colored Days
Steve Johnson, illustrator
Lou Fancher, illustrator
Knopf
Ghost Dance
Alice McLerran, author
Clarion
October Smiled Back
Lisa Westberg Peters, author
Henry Holt
Remember That
Karen Ritz, illustrator
Clarion
1997 Poetry
War Baby Express
Roseann Lloyd
Holy Cow! Press
To Collect the Flesh: Poems
Greg Hewett
New Rivers Press
Dovetailed Corners: Prose Poems
Jim Johnson
Marlene Wisuri, photographer
J.C. Hendricks, photographer
Holy Cow! Press
On the Road with Patsy Cline: Poems
John W. Reinhard
New Rivers Press
1997 Short Stories
Glass Houses: Stories
George Rabasa
Coffee House Press
One Last Dance with Lawrence Welk
Peter Damian Bellis
River Boat Books
The Dance Hall at Spring Hill: Stories
Duke Klassen
New Rivers Press
An Explanation for Chaos
Julie Schumacher
Soho Press
The Worldwide Church of the Handicapped and Other Stories
Marie Sheppard Williams
Coffee House Press
1997 Young Adult Fiction
Sees Behind Trees
Michael Dorris
Hyperion Books for Children
Riot
Mary Casanova
Hyperion Books for Children
Nerd No More
Kristine L. Franklin
Candlewick Press
Book of Enchantments
Patricia C. Wrede
Harcourt Brace: Jane Yolen Book
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).