Abby Award nominees announced

TARRYTOWN, New York (CNN) -- The American Booksellers Association has announced the nominees for the 1998 American Booksellers Book of the Year (ABBY) Award.

The final list of five books -- in both adult trade and children's categories -- is nominated by bookstore members of the ABA.

The 1998 adult nominees are:

-- "All Over but the Shoutin'" by Rick Bragg (Pantheon Books)
The Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times reporter brings alive his childhood of Southern poverty, and his love and respect for his mother.

-- "At Home in Mitford" by Jan Karon (Viking Penguin, cloth; Lion Publishing and Penguin Books, paper)
Karon's novel, the first in a series, brings readers home to a charming North Carolina town and its equally charming residents.

-- "Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly Press)
Set at the end of the Civil War, this novel follows the journey of a wounded Confederate soldier as he returns home.

-- "Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster" by Jon Krakauer (Villard Books)
Gripping tale of a 1996 Everest expedition gone awry and of the disaster that killed a sherpa, two guides and several clients.

-- "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden (Knopf)
The life of a "fisherman's daughter" who became a famous Kyoto geisha. A book "with stunning clarity," according to a Publisher's Weekly review.

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"Of all the prizes, I feel singularly honored and emotional about this one."
-- 1997 Abby winner Frank McCourt for 'Angela's Ashes'

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"The 1998 list of nominees is one of the strongest we've ever had," said ABA Vice President Richard Howorth. "This list clearly demonstrates independent booksellers' ability, in close partnership with their customers, to discover exciting new books that can be brought to an even broader audience."

The 1998 children's nominees are:

-- "The Gardener" by Sarah Stewart, illustrated by David Small (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

-- "The Hat" by Jan Brett (The Putnam Publishing Group)

-- "To Market, To Market" by Anne Miranda, illustrated by Janet Stevens (Harcourt Brace & Company)

-- "Toot & Puddle" by Holly Hobbie (Little, Brown & Company)

-- "When Jessie Came Across the Sea" by Amy Hest, illustrated by P.J. Lynch (Candlewick Press)

Booksellers will vote on the nominees in a mail-in ballot this spring, and the winners will be announced in May. The award itself -- $5,000 cash prize and engraved Tiffany glass prisms -- will be presented in both the adult and children's categories at the BookExpo America trade show in Chicago, May 30 - June 1. The remaining four nominees in each category will be awarded the title of Honor Book.

SEE ALSO:

Past ABBY winners

Other notable Abby winners in the past have included "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel; "Brother Eagle, Sister Sky" by Susan Jeffers; and "Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson. Children's Abby winners included "Old Turtle" by Douglas Wood, illustrated by Cheng-Khee Chee; "Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon; and "The Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister.

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