2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006
2024 Washington State Book Awards: Finalists
Creative Nonfiction/Memoir Finalists:
101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered by Sadie Hartmann of Tacoma
(Page Street Publishing)
The Fine Art of Camouflage by Lauren Kay Johnson of Olympia
(MilSpeak Books)
Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City by Jane Wong of Seattle
(Tin House Books)
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer of Bainbridge Island
(Alfred A. Knopf)
Touching the Art by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore of Seattle
(Soft Skull Press)
We Are Not Strangers by Josh Tuininga of North Bend
(Abrams)
Fiction Finalists:
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree of Spokane
(Tor Publishing)
I Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer by Robert Lashley of Bellingham
(Demersal Publishing)
Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu of Western Washington
(Erewhon Books, an imprint of Kensington Books)
The Laughter by Sonora Jha of Seattle
(Harper Via)
The Liberators by E.J. Koh of Seattle
(Tin House)
Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith of Seattle
(Farrar, Status and Giroux)
General Nonfiction/Biography Finalists:
Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from Behind the Handlebars by Tom Fucoloro of Seattle
(University of Washington Press)
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan of Seattle
(Viking)
Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur of Tulalip
(Ten Speed Press)
Salmon, Cedar, Rock & Rain: Washington’s Olympic Peninsula by Tim McNulty of Sequim
(Braided River)
Stomp and Shout: R&B and the Origins of Northwest Rock and Roll by Peter Blecha of Seattle
(University of Washington Press)
Unmaking the Bomb: Environmental Cleanup and the Politics of Impossibility by Shannon Cram of Duvall
(University of California Press)
Poetry Finalists:
Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry by Derek Sheffield of Leavenworth, Elizabeth Bradfield, Cmarie Fuhrman et. al
(Mountaineers Books)
Childcare by Rob Schlegel of Walla Walla
(Four Way Books)
Flare, Corona by Jeannine Hall Gailey of Woodinville
(BOA Editions)
I Sing the Salmon Home: Poems from Washington State edited by Rena Priest of Lummi Nation, Bellingham
(Empty Bowl Press)
Judas Goat: Poems by Gabrielle Bates of Seattle
(Tin House)
They Never Asked: Senryu Poetry from the WWII Portland Assembly Center translated by Michael Freiling of Vancouver, Satsuki Takikawa of Vancouver, Shelley Barker-Gard, and Duane Watari
(Oregon State University Press)
Picture Books Finalists:
And Then Comes School by Tom Brenner of Vashon Island, illustrated by Jenn Hill
(Candewick Press)
Drake the Super-Excited, Overeager, In-Your-Face Snake by Michaele Razi of North Bend
(Little Bigfoot, an imprint of Sasquatch Books)
In the Dark by Kate Hoefler, Illustrated by Corinna Luyken of Olympia
(Random House Children’s Books)
Maurice by Jessixa Bagley of Seattle
(Chronicle Books)
Ploof by Ben Clanton and Andy Chou Musser of Seattle
(Tundra Books)
The Story of a Book by Joy McCullough of Shoreline, illustrated by Devon Holzwarth
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)
Books for Young Readers Finalists:
Alebrijes: Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera of Poulsbo
(Levine Querido)
The Beautiful Something Else by Ash Van Otterloo of Bremerton
(Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc.)
Code Red by Joy McCullough of Shoreline
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)
Duel by Jessixa Bagley, illustrated by Aaron Bagley of Seattle
(Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
The Nighthouse Keeper by Lora Senf of Spokane
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet by Jake Maia Arlow of Seattle
(Dial Books For Young Readers/Penguin)
Young Adult Literature Finalists:
Enter the Body by Joy McCullough of Shoreline
(Dutton Young Readers/Penguin Random House)
The Golden Needle by T.J. Carroll of Snohomish County
(Cumberstone Press)
Painted Devils by Margaret Owen of Seattle
(Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, c/o Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group)
2023 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Creative Nonfiction/Memoir Winner:
Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe of Tacoma
(Counterpoint Press)
Creative Nonfiction/Memoir Finalists:
Fearlessly Different by Mickey Rowe of Seattle
(Rowman & Littlefield)
Ma and Me: A Memoir by Putsata Reang of Burien
(MCD/FSG)
Where the Language Lives: Vi Hilbert and the Gift of Lushootseed by Janet Yoder of Seattle
(Girl Friday Books)
Fiction Winner:
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu of Seattle
(Tin House)
Fiction Finalists:
The Angel of Rome and Other Stories by Jess Walter of Spokane
(HarperCollins)
The Final Case by David Guterson of Bainbridge Island
(Alfred A. Knopf)
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree of Spokane
(Tor Books)
Never Meant to Meet You by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans of Seattle
(Montlake, Seattle)
General Nonfiction/Biography Winner:
The Wok: Recipes and Techniques by J. Kenji López-Alt of Seattle
(W.W. Norton & Company)
General Nonfiction/Biography Finalists:
I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times by Mónica Guzmán of Seattle
(BenBella Books, Inc.)
Northwest Know-How: Beaches by Rena Priest of Bellingham
(Sasquatch Books)
Of Blood and Sweat: Black Lives and the Making of White Power and Wealth by Clyde W. Ford of Bellingham
(Amistad Press, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World: A History by William Alexander of Bainbridge Island
(Grand Central Publishing)
Poetry Winner:
We Had Our Reasons by Ricardo Ruiz of Seattle
(Pulley Press | Poetry From Rural America)
Poetry Finalists:
banana [ ] by Paul Hlava Ceballos of Seattle
(University of Pittsburgh Press)
Cipota Under the Moon by Claudia Castro Luna of Seattle
(Tia Chucha Press, distributed by Northwestern University Press)
Contemplations by Scott Oki of Bellevue
(o-kaisha Publishing)
The Necessity of Wildfire by Caitlin Scarano of Bellingham
(Blair)
When I Was the Wind by Hannah Lee Jones of Port Townsend
(June Road Press)
Picture Books Winner:
How to Hug a Pufferfish by Ellie Peterson of Kirkland
(Roaring Brook Press)
Picture Books Finalists:
The Birders: An Unexpected Encounter in the Northwest Woods by Rob Albanese of Seattle
(Sasquatch Books)
Old Wood Boat by Nikki McClure of Olympia and the Salish Sea
(Candlewick Press)
Working Boats: An Inside Look at Ten Amazing Watercraft by Tom Crestodina of Bellingham
(Sasquatch Books)
Books for Young Readers Winner:
Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone by Tae Keller of Seattle
(Random House)
Books for Young Readers Finalists:
Narwhalicorn and Jelly by Ben Clanton of Seattle
(Tundra Books)
Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence by Sonja Thomas of Vancouver
(Aladdin/Simon & Schuster)
Young Adult Literature Winner:
The Language of Seabirds by Will Taylor of Seattle
(Scholastic Press)
Young Adult Literature Finalists:
Howl by Shaun David Hutchinson of Seattle
(Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
The Turning Pointe by Vanessa L. Torres of Olympia
(Knopf/Random House Children’s Books)
2022 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Biography and Memoir Winner:
Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism by Elsa Sjunneson of Seattle
(Simon Element)
Biography and Memoir Finalists:
Crossing the River: Seven Stories That Saved My Life, A Memoir by Carol Smith of Seattle
(Harry N. Abrams)
Heart Radical: A Search for Language, Love, and Belonging by Anne Liu Kellor of Seattle
(She Writes Press)
The Other Mothers: Two Women’s Journey to Find the Family That Was Always Theirs by Jennifer Berney of Olympia
(Sourcebooks)
Creative Nonfiction Winner:
The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (with recipes) by Kate Lebo of Spokane
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Creative Nonfiction Finalists:
Readying to Rise: Essays by Marcus Harrison Green of Skyway, South Seattle
(Vertvolta Press)
Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit by Lyanda Lynn Haupt of West Seattle
(Little, Brown Spark)
We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration written by Frank Abe (of Seattle) and Tamiko Nimura (of Tacoma), illustrated by Ross Ishikawa (of Seattle) and Matt Sasaki (of Edmonds)
(Chin Music Press)
White Magic: Essays by Elissa Washuta enrolled member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe
(Tin House Books)
Fiction Winner:
On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu of Western Washington
(Erewhon)
Fiction Finalists:
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon of Seattle
(Berkley)
Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison of Bainbridge Island
(Algonquin Books)
One Two Three: A Novel by Laurie Frankel of Seattle
(Henry Holt and Co.)
What Comes After: A Novel by JoAnne Tompkins of Port Townsend
(Riverhead Books)
General Nonfiction Winner:
Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home by Lynda Mapes of Seattle
(Braided River)
General Nonfiction Finalists:
Coming Home to Nez Perce Country: The Niimiipuu Campaign to Repatriate Their Exploited Heritage by Trevor James Bond of Pullman
(Washington State University Press)
Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II by Daniel James Brown of Redmond
(Viking)
Fear No Man: Don James, the ’91 Huskies, and the Seven-Year Quest for a National Football Championship by Mike Gastineau of Whidbey Island
(University of Washington Press)
Murder at the Mission: A Frontier Killing, Its Legacy of Lies, and the Taking of the American by Blaine Harden of Seattle
(Penguin Books)
Skid Road: On the Frontier of Health and Homelessness in an American City by Josephine Ensign of Seattle
(Johns Hopkins University Press)
Poetry Winner:
More American by Sharon Hashimoto of Tukwila
(Grid Books / Off the Grid Press)
Poetry Finalists:
Broken by Water: Salish Sea Years by Gary Thompson of Friday Harbor, San Juan County
(Turning Point)
Dialogues with Rising Tides by Kelli Russell Agodon of Port Ludlow. Jefferson County
(Copper Canyon Press)
Self-Portrait with Cephalopod by Kathryn Smith of Spokane
(Milkweed Editions)
Stray Birds by Andrew Robin of Lopez Island, San Juan County
(Kelson Books)
Picture Books Winner:
Rock by Rock: The Fantastical Garden of Nek Chand written by Jennifer Bradbury of Burlington, illustrated by Sam Boughton
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Picture Books Finalists:
1, 2, 3 Salish Sea: A Pacific Northwest Counting Book by Nikki McClure of Olympia
(Little Bigfoot)
The Barking Ballad: A Bark-Along Meow-Along Book by Julie Paschkis of Seattle
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Something Good illustrated by Corinna Luyken of Olympia, written by Marcy Campbell
(Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Books for Young Readers Winner:
Mighty Inside by Sundee T. Frazier of Renton
(Levine Querido)
Books for Young Readers Finalists:
Almost Flying by Jake Maia Arlow of Seattle
(Dial Books)
Happily for Now by Kelly Jones of Seattle
(Knopf Books for Young Readers)
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera of Issaquah
(Levine Querido)
Orca Rescue!: The True Story of an Orphaned Orca Named Springer by Donna Sandstrom of Seattle, illustrated by Sarah Burwash
(Kids Can Press)
Young Adult Winner:
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen of Seattle
(Henry Holt and Co. BYR)
Young Adult Finalists:
Calculated by Nova McBee of Edmonds
(Wise Wolf Books)
A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson of Seattle
(Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Remedy by Eireann Corrigan of Tacoma
(Scholastic Press)
We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire by Joy McCullough of Shoreline
(Dutton Books for Young Readers)
2021 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Fiction Winner:
The Cold Millions by Jess Walter (HarperCollins)
Fiction Finalists:
The Second Star by Alma Alexander (Crossroad Press)
Living Color: Angie Rubio Stories by Donna Miscolta (Jaded Ibis Press)
Vera Violet by Melissa Anne Peterson (Counterpoint Press)
The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite (Avon Impulse)
Biography and Memoir Winner:
The Magical Language of Others by E.J. Koh (Tin House Books)
Biography and Memoir Finalists:
Quitter: A Memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery by Erica C. Barnett (Viking Books)
House Lessons: Renovating a Life by Erica Bauermeister (Sasquatch Books)
The Fixed Stars by Molly Wizenberg (Abrams Press)
Creative Nonfiction Winner:
Think Black by Clyde Ford (Amistad/Harper Collins)
Creative Nonfiction Finalists:
Every Penguin in the World: A Quest to See Them All by Charles Bergman (Sasquatch Books)
Nature Obscura: A City’s Hidden Natural World by Kelly Brenner (Mountaineers Books)
Black Imagination: Black Voices on Black Futures curated by Natasha Marin (McSweeney’s)
Seismic: Seattle, City of Literature edited by Kristen Millares Young (Seattle City of Literature)
General Nonfiction Winner:
Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19 edited by Jennifer Haupt (Central Avenue Publishing)
General Nonfiction Finalists:
Pieometry: Modern Tart Art and Pie Design for the Eye and the Palate by Lauren Ko (William Morrow Cooksbooks)
The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers by Emily Levesque (Sourcebooks)
The Apocalypse Factory: Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age by Steve Olson (W.W. Norton Company)
Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During the Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade (Verso Books)
Unsettled Ground: The Whitman Massacre and Its Shifting Legacy in the American West by Cassandra Tate (Sasquatch Books)
Poetry Winner:
Take a Stand: Art Against Hate, a Raven Chronicles Anthology edited by Phoebe Bosché, Anna Bálint, and Thomas Hubbard (Raven Chronicles Press)
Poetry Finalists:
Insubordinate by Ebo Barton (Ebo Barton)
DMZ Colony by Don Mee Choi (Wave Books)
Post Romantic by Kathleen Flenniken (University of Washington)
Feeding Hour by Jessica Gigot (Wandering Aengus Press)
Terrain by Gina Hietpas (Blue Cactus Press)
Young Adult Literature Winner:
What I Carry by Jennifer Longo (Random House Books for Young Readers)
Young Adult Literature Finalists:
Girl, Unframed by Deb Caletti (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Spindle and Dagger by J. Anderson Coats (Candlewick Press)
Heiress Apparently by Diana Ma (Amulet)
Into the Deep: Science, Technology, and the Quest to Protect the Ocean by Christy Peterson (Lerner Publishing)
Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon (Simon Pulse)
Books for Young Readers Winner:
Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! by Sarah Kapit (Dial Books for Young Readers)
Books for Young Readers Finalists:
Dear Beast written by Dori Hillestad, illustrated by Kevan Atteberry (Holiday House)
Measuring Up written by Lily LaMotte, illustrated by Ann Xu (Harper Alley/HarperCollins)
Whispering Pines by Heidi Lang and Kati Bartowski (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Joy McCullough (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Tornado Brain by Cat Patrick (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)
Picture Book Winner:
The Camping Trip by Jennifer K. Mann (Candlewick Press)
Picture Book Finalists:
The Spirit of Springer by Amanda Abler, illustrated by Levi Hastings (Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch Books)
This Old Dog by Martha Brockenbrough, illustrated by Gabriel Alborozo (Levine Querido)
Snail Crossing written and illustrated by Corey Tabor (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins)
Play Day School Day written and illustrated by Toni Yuly (Candlewick Press)
2021 Judges for Adult Titles:
Kerry Halls – Manager, Auntie’s Bookstore
Tiffany Midge – Author and 2020 WSBA Award Finalist
Zola Mumford – Reference & Instruction Librarian, North Seattle College Library
Betsey Stahler – Collection Development Manager, NCW Libraries
Jenna Zarzycki – Adult Services Librarian, King County Library System
2021 Judges for Youth Titles:
Tamar Clarke – Teen Services Coordinator, Whatcom County Library System
Christopher Robert – Librarian, Seattle Public Schools
Janelle Smith – Owner, Wishing Tree Books
2020 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Fiction Winner:
Deep River by Karl Marlantes (Atlantic Monthly Press)
Fiction Finalists:
The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson (Grove Press)
The Cassandra by Sharma Shields (Henry Holt and Co)
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton (Grand Central Publishing)
Stay and Fight by Madeline ffitch (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow by Olivia Hawker (Lake Union Publishing)
Poetry Winner:
Nightingale by Paisley Rekdal (Copper Canyon Press)
Poetry Finalists:
All Its Charms by Keetje Kuipers (BOA Editions)
Bright Stain by Francesca Bell (Red Hen Press)
Hail and Farewell by Abby E. Murray (Perugia Press)
Turn Around Time: A Walking Poem for the Pacific Northwest written by David Guterson; illustrated by Justin Gibbens (Mountaineers Books)
Biography/Memoir Winner:
The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story by Aaron Bobrow-Strain (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Biography/Memoir Finalists:
The Good Way: A Himalayan Journey by Julie Tate-Libby (Koehler Books)
Hangdog Days: Conflict, Change, and the Race for 5.14 by Jeff Smoot (Mountaineers Books)
A House on Stilts: Mothering in the Age of Opioid Addiction by Paula Becker (University of Iowa Press)
I Know What I Am: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi by Gina Siciliano (Fantagraphics Books)
Creative Nonfiction Winner:
Become America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility, and Democracy by Eric Liu (Sasquatch Books)
Creative Nonfiction Finalists:
Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s by Tiffany Midge (University of Nebraska Press)
Hard to Love: Essays and Confessions by Briallen Hopper (Bloomsbury Publishing)
Shapes of Native Nonfiction: Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers by Elissa Washuta and Theresa Warburton (University of Washington Press)
The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West (Hachette Books)
General Nonfiction Winner:
The Big Thaw: Ancient Carbon, Modern Science, and a Race to Save the World photography by Chris Linder; text by Eric Scigliano, with Dr. Robert Max Holmes, Dr. Susan Natali, and Dr. John Schade (Braided River / Mountaineers Books)
General Nonfiction Finalists:
Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World by Anu Taranath, illustrated by Ronald “Otts” Bolisay (Between the Lines Press)
Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City by Jennifer Ott (HistoryLink and Documentary Media)
Seattle Style: High Fashion/High Function by Museum of History & Industry and Clara Berg (University of Washington Press)
Seattle Walk Report: An Illustrated Walking Tour through 23 Seattle Neighborhoods by Susanna Ryan (Sasquatch Books)
Picture Book Winner:
Flora Forager ABC by Bridget Beth Collins (Little Bigfoot)
Picture Book Finalists:
Ghost Cat by Kevan Atteberry (Neal Porter Books / Holiday House)
Lasting Love by Caroline Wright, illustrated by Willow Heath (Rodale Kids)
Books for Young Readers Winner:
Growing Up Gorilla: How a Zoo Baby Brought Her Family Together by Clare Hodgson Meeker (Lerner Publishing Group)
Books for Young Readers Finalists:
Explorer Academy: The Falcon’s Feather by Trudi Trueit (National Geographic Kids)
King & Kayla and the Case of Found Fred by Dori Hillestad Butler (Peachtree Press)
Last Meeting of the Gorilla Club by Sara Nickerson (Dutton Children’s Books)
Professor Renoir’s Collection of Oddities, Curiosities, and Delights by Randall Platt (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Sauerkraut by Kelly Jones (Alfred A Knopf/Penguin Random House)
Books for Young Adult Readers Winner:
SLAY by Brittney Morris (Simon & Schuster)
Books for Young Adult Readers Finalists:
Between Before & After by Maureen Doyle McQuerry (Blink)
Brave Face by Shaun David Hutchinson (Simon & Schuster)
Warhead: The True Story of One Teen Who Almost Saved the World by Jeff Henigson (Delacorte Press)
2019 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Fiction Winner: So Lucky by Nicola Griffith (MCD x FSG Originals)
Finalists: The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carassco, (MCD); The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore by Kim Fu, (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); Night Hawks by Charles Johnson, (Scribner); Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira, (Penguin Random House)
Poetry Winner: Instruments of the True Measure by Laura Da’ (University of Arizona Press)
Finalists: Between Darkness and Trust by Lorraine Ferra, (MoonPath Press); The Book of Sharks by Rob Carney, (Black Lawrence Press); The Slow Art by Sierra Golden, (Bear Star Press); What We Do by Michele Bombardier, (Kelsay Books)
Biography/Memoir Winner: Arctic Solitaire by Paul Souders (Mountaineer Books)
Finalists: Guts by Janet Buttenwieser, (Vine Leaves Press); Nothing Good Can Come from This by Kristi Coulter, (MCD x FSG Originals); The Seminarian by Patrick Parr, (Chicago Review Press); The Shame of Losing by Sarah Cannon, (Red Hen Press)
History/General Nonfiction Winner: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (Seal Press)
Finalists: A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America (reprinted as Unbelievable) by Ken Armstrong, (Crown); Like a Mother by Angela Garbes, (Harper Wave); The Lines That Make Us: Stories from Nathan’s Bus by Nathan Vass, (Tome Press); Our Native Bees by Paige Embry, (Workman Press); Uplake by Ana Maria Spagna, (University of Washington Press)
Picture Book Winner: All Are Welcome illustrated by Suzanne Kaufmann, written by Alexandra Penfold (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Finalists: Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse illustrated by Corinna Luyken, written by Marcy Campbell, (Dial Books); The Frightful Ride of Michael McMichael by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Mark Fearing, (Candlewick Press); Something Smells! by Blake Liliane Hellman, illustrated by Steven Henry, (Simon & Schuster); Summer Supper illustrated by Mike Austin, written by Rubin Pfeffer, (Random House); Trevor illustrated by Amy Hevron, written by Jim Averbeck, (Roaring Brook Press)
Books for Young Readers (ages 6-8) Winner: Peanut Butter and Jelly by Ben Clanton (Tundra Books)
Finalists: King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth by Dori Hilstead Butler, (Peachtree Publishing Company); The Sasquatch and the Lumberjack by Crix Sheridan, (Little Bigfoot)
Books for Middle Readers (ages 9 to 12) Winner: Winterhouse by Ben Guterson (Henry Holt and Co.)
Finalists: Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas by Dav Pilkey, (Graphix); The Ostrich and Other Lost Things by Beth Hautala, (Philomel Books); Wish Upon a Sleepover by Suzanne Selfors, (Imprint)
Books for Young Adults (ages 13 to 18) Winner: Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough (Dutton Books for Young Readers)
Finalists: Fast Backward by David Patneaude, (Koehler Books); A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti, (Simon Pulse); I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall, (Viking Books for Young Readers); The Price Guide to the Occult by Leslye Walton, (Candlewick Press); Unpresidented by Martha Brockenbrough, (Feiwel & Friends)
2018 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Fiction Winner: This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel (Flatiron Books)
Finalists: The Cold Eye by Laura Anne Gilman, (Simon & Schuster); The Other Alcott by Elise Hooper, (HarperCollins); Solar Reboot by Matthew D. Hunt (Matthew D. Hunt); George and Lizzie by Nancy Pearl (Touchstone); Duplicity by Ingrid Thoft (Putnam);
Poetry Winner: Water & Salt by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha (Red Hen Press)
Finalists: Thresholds by Glenna Cook (MoonPath Press); Killing Marias: A Poem for Multiple Voices by Claudia Castro Luna (Two Sylvias Press); Timber Curtain by Frances McCue (Chin Music Press); Mary’s Dust by Melinda Mueller (Entre Rios Books); Trazas de mapa, trazas de sangre / Map Traces, Blood Traces by Eugenia Toledo; translated by Carolyne Wright (Mayapple Press)
Biography/Memoir Winner: The Spider and the Fly by Claudia Rowe (Dey Street/ HarperColllins)
Finalists: The Chicken Who Saved Us by Kristin Jarvis Adams (Behler Publications); All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft by Geraldine DeRuiter (Public Affairs Books)
History and Nonfiction Winner: Mozart’s Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt (Little, Brown & Company)
Finalists: Upstream: Searching for Wild Salmon, from River to Table by Langdon Cook (Ballantine Books); Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil to Life by David R. Montgomery (W.W. Norton); Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean by Jonathan White (Trinity University Press); Waterway: The Story of Seattle’s Locks and Ship Canal by David B. Williams and Jennifer Ott, and the Staff of HistoryLink (HistoryLink and Documentary Media); Ghosts of Seattle Past, various authors, curated and edited by Jaimee Garbacik (Chin Music Press)
Picture Book Winner: Shawn Loves Sharks by Curtis Manley, illustrated by Tracy Subisak (Roaring Book Press)
Finalists: Little Wolf’s First Howling by Laura McGee Kvasnosky and Kate Harvey McGee (Candlewick Press); The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken (Dial Books for Young Readers); Frank the Seven-Legged Spider by Michaele Razi (Little Bigfoot / Sasquatch Books)
Books for Young Readers (ages 6-8) Winner: Zoey and Sassafras: Dragons and Marshmallows by Asia Citro (Innovation Press);
Finalist: King & Kayla and the Case of the Missing Dog Treats by Dori Hillestad Butler (Peachtree Publishers);
Books for Middle Readers (ages 9 to 12); Winner: The Many Reflections of Miss Jane Deming by J. Anderson Coats (Atheneum Books for Young Readers);
Finalists: Outside In by Jennifer Bradbury (A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book / Atheneum Books for Young Readers);; Wedgie & Gizmo by Suzanne Selfors (Katherine Tegen Books / HarperCollins Publishers);: The Forbidden Temptation of Baseball by Dori Jones Yang (Spark Press);
Books for Young Adults (ages 13 to 18) Winner: The Arsonist by Stephanie Oakes (Dial Books)
Finalists: Breakfast with Neruda by Laura Moe (Merit Press); This Impossible Light by Lily Myers (Philomel Books); Girls Like Me by Nina Packebush (Bedazzled Ink); The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die by Randall Platt (Sky Pony Press)
2017 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Fiction Winner: Daredevils by Shawn Vestal (Penguin Press)
Finalists: The Solace of Monsters by Laurie Blauner (Leapfrog Press); Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (Vintage Books); Barkskins by Annie Proulx (Scribner); Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff (Harper Collins)
Poetry Winner: My, My, My, My, My by Tara Hardy (Write Bloody Publishing)
Finalists: Hardly War by Don Mee Choi (Wave Books); Imaginary Vessels by Paisley Rekdal (Copper Canyon Press); Blood Song by Michael Schmeltzer (Two Sylvias Press); Wintering by Megan Snyder-Camp (Tupelo)
Biography/Memoir Winner: An Earlier Life by Brenda Miller (Judith Kitchen’s Ovenbird Books)
Finalists: Inside: One Woman’s Journey through the Inside Passage by Susan Marie Conrad (Epicenter Press): Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West (Hachette Books); My Old Man and the Mountain by Leif Whittaker (Mountaineers Books)
History and Nonfiction Winner: Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount Saint Helens by Steve Olson (W.W. Norton)
Finalists: The Immortal Irishman by Timothy Egan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); While the City Slept by Eli Sanders (Viking); Turning Homeward: Restoring Hope and Nature in the Urban Wild by Adrienne Ross Scanlan (Mountaineers Books); Seawomen of Iceland:Survival on the Edge by Margaret Willson
Picture Book Winner: Thunder Boy, Jr. by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown)
Finalists: A Ticket to the Pennant by Mark Holtzen, writer and John Skewes, illustrator (Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch Books); Are You an Echo? by David Jacobson (Chin Music Press); Journey by Emma Bland Smith, Writer and Robin James, Illustrator (Little Bigfoot / Sasquatch Books)
Books for Young Readers (ages 6-8) Winner: Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea by Ben Clanton (Tundra Books)
Finalist: Zach and Lucy and the Museum of Natural Wonders by Jennifer Bradbury and Stephanie Guerra (Simon Spotlight); Quackers by Liz Wong (Alfred A. Knopf)
Books for Middle Readers (ages 9 to 12) Winner: Some Kind of Courage by Dan Gemeinhart (Scholastic Press)
Finalists: Cleo Edison Oliver: Playground Millionaire by Sundee T. Frazier (Arthur A. Levine Books); Audacity Jones to the Rescue by Kirby Larson (Scholastic Press)
Books for Young Adults (ages 13 to 18) Winner: Useless Bay by M.J. Beaufrand (Amulet Books)
Finalists: Essential Maps for the Lost by Deb Caletti (Simon Pulse); Up to This Pointe by Jennifer Longo (Random House)
2016 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Fiction Winner: The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac by Sharma Shields (Henry Holt)
Finalists: Black River by S.M. Hulse (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); Language Arts by Stephanie Kallos (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); Me and My Daddy Listen to Bob Marley by Ann Pancake (Counterpoint); American Copper by Shann Ray (Unbridled Books).
Poetry Winner: Reconnaissance by Carl Phillips (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Finalists: 88 Maps by Rob Carney (Lost Horse Press); Tributaries by Laura Da’, (University of Arizona Press); Her Animals by Emily Johnston (Hummingbird Press); Hive by Christina Stoddard, (University of Wisconsin Press).
Biography/Memoir Winner: Road Trip by Mark Rozema (Red Hen Press)
Finalists: Wondering Who You Are by Sonya Lea (Tin House Books); Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax by Michael N. McGregor (Fordham University Press); Reclaimers by Ana Maria Spagna (University of Washington Press); Orchard House: How a Neglected Garden Taught One Family to Grow by Tara Austen Weaver (Ballantine Books).
History/General Nonfiction Winner: Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson (Crown Publishers)
Finalists: The Triumph of Seeds by Thor Hanson (Basic Books); Ozette: Excavating a Makah Whaling Village by Ruth Kirk (University of Washington Press); Of Orcas and Men: What Killer Whales Can Teach Us by David Neiwert (Overlook Press); Ancient Places: People and Landscape in the Emerging Northwest by Jack Nisbet (Sasquatch Books).
Picture Book Winner: Boats for Papa written and illustrated by Jessixa Bagley (Roaring Brook Press)
Finalists: Strictly No Elephants written by Lisa Mantchev, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster); Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah written by Laurie Ann Thompson, illustrated by Sean Qualls (Schwartz & Wade/Random House Children’s Books).
Books for Early Readers (ages 6 to 8) Winner: Here Comes the Tooth Fairy Cat by Deborah Underwood (Dial Books)
Finalist: Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers).
Books for Middle Readers (ages 9 to 12) Winner: Red Butterfly by A.L. Sonnichsen (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Finalist: Waiting for Unicorns by Beth Hautala (Philomel Books).
Books for Young Adults (ages 13 to 18) Winner: The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books)
Finalist: Ruthless by Carolyn Lee Adams (Simon Pulse)
2015 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Fiction Winner: The Hour of Lead by Bruce Holbert (Counterpoint Press)
Finalists: Steal the North by Heather Brittain Bergstrom (Viking/Penguin); A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain by Adrianne Harun (Penguin Books); The Iron Sickle by Martin Limón (Soho Press); The Dismal Science by Peter Mountford (Tin House Books).
Poetry Winners: Bugle by Tod Marshall (Canarium Books); The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse by Shih-Wu, translated Red Pine (Copper Canyon Press) received an award for poetry in translation.
Finalists: Hourglass Museum by Kelli Russell Agodon (White Pine Press); In Orbit by Kim-An Lieberman (Blue Begonia Press).
Biography/Memoir Winner: Loitering: New and Collected Essays by Charles D’Ambrosio (Tin House Books)
Finalists: Badluck Way: A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West by Bryce Andrews (Atria Books); Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good: A Memoir of Food and Love from an American Midwest Family by Kathleen Flinn (Viking); Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life by Tom Robbins (Ecco Press); My Body Is a Book of Rules by Elissa Washuta (Red Hen Press).
History/General Nonfiction Winner: Trying Home: The Rise and Fall of an Anarchist Utopia on Puget Sound by Justin Wadland (Oregon State University Press)
Finalists: In Season: Culinary Adventures of a Pacific Northwest Chef by Greg Atkinson (Sasquatch Books); The North Cascades: Finding Beauty and Renewal in the Wild Nearby by William Dietrich (Braided River); When Money Grew on Trees: A.B. Hammond and the Age of the Timber Baron by Greg Gordon (University of Oklahoma Press); Mary Randlett Portraits by Frances McCue (University of Washington Press).
Picture Book Winner: Two Speckled Eggs, written and illustrated by Jennifer K. Mann (Candlewick Press)
Finalists: Little Green Peas: A Big Book of Color, written and illustrated by Keith Baker (Beach Lane Books); Hands Say Love by George Shannon, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo (Little Brown Books for Young Readers); S Is for Salmon: A Pacific Northwest Alphabet, written and illustrated by Hannah Viano (Sasquatch Books).
Books for Middle Readers (ages 9 to 12) Winner: Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson (Andrews McNeel Publishing)
Finalists: Junior Genius Guides: Maps and Geographies by Ken Jennings (Little Simon); Beyond the Door (Time Out of Time series, book one) by Maureen McQuerry (Amulet Books).
Books for Young Adults (ages 13 to 18) Winner: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (Candlewick Press)
Finalists: Pure Grit: How American World War II Nurses Survived Battle and Prison Camp in the Pacific by Mary Cronk Farrell (Abrams Books for Young Readers); Between Two Worlds by Katherine Kirkpatrick (Wendy Lamb Books); Six Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo (Random House Books for Young Readers).
2014 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Fiction Winner: Hild by Nicola Griffith (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Finalists: Temple Grove by Scott Elliott (University of Washington Press); Half as Happy by Gregory Spatz (Engine Books); We Live in Water by Jess Walter (Harper Perennial); Wilderness by Lance Weller (Bloomsbury).
Poetry Winner: Rough Day by Ed Skoog (Copper Canyon Press)
Finalists: What I’ve Stolen, What I’ve Earned by Sherman Alexie (Hanging Loose Press); Self-Storage by Rebecca Hoogs (Stephen F. Austin University Press); Through the Second Skin by Derek Sheffield (Orchises Press); Pacific Walkers by Nance van Winckel (University of Washington Press).
Biography/Memoir Winner: The Family: Three Journeys Into the Heart of the Twentieth Century by David Laskin (Viking Books)
Finalists: Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story by Peter Bagge (Drawn & Quarterly); Confessions of a Latter-Day Virgin by Nicole Hardy (Hyperion Books); Driving Home: An American Journey by Jonathan Raban (Sasquatch Books).
History/General Nonfiction Winner: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown (Viking Books)
Finalists: The Boy Who Shot the Sheriff: The Redemption of Herbert Niccolls Jr. by Nancy Bartley (University of Washington Press); The Mushroom Hunters: On the Trail of an Underground America by Langdon Cook (Ballantine Books); Wolves in the Land of Salmon by David Moskowitz (Timber Press).
Picture Book Winner: What Do You Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada, illustrated by Mae Besom (Compendium Kids)
Finalists: Frog Song by Brenda Guiberson, illustrated by Gennady Spirin (Henry Holt); Stardines Swim High Across the Sky and Other Poems by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Carin Berger (Greenwillow Books); Once Upon a Memory by Nina Laden, illustrated by Renata Liwska (Little, Brown and Company); Who Put the Cookies in the Cookie Jar? by George Shannon, illustrated by Julie Paschkis (Henry Holt).
Books for Early Readers (ages 6 to 8) Winner: And Then, Story Starters by M.H. Clark (Compendium, Inc.)
Books for Middle Readers (ages 9 to 12) Winner: The Sasquatch Escape by Suzanne Selfors (Little, Brown and Company)
Books for Young Adults (ages 13 to 18) Winner: Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott (Henry Holt)
Finalists for Books for Youth Categories: The Wrap-Up List by Steven Arntson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin (Little, Brown and Company); The League by Thatcher Heldring (Delacorte Press); Duke by Kirby Larson (Scholastic Press).
2013 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Fiction Winner: The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin (HarperCollins Publishers)
Finalists: Blueprints of the Afterlife by Ryan Boudinot (Grove/Atlantic); The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison (Algonquin Books); Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain by Lucia Perillo (W.W. Norton & Co.); Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (HarperCollins Publishers).
Poetry Winner: Plume by Kathleen Flenniken (University of Washington Press)
Finalists: Theophobia by Bruce Beasley (BOA Editions, Ltd.); Raptor by Andrew Feld (University of Chicago Press); Here I Throw Down My Heart by Colleen McElroy (University of Pittsburgh Press); Lacemakers by Claire McQuerry (Southern Illinois University Press).
Biography/Memoir Winner: Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis by Timothy Egan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Finalists: Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo & Me by Ellen Forney(Gotham Books); What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes (Grove/Atlantic); The Boy Kings of Texas by Domingo Martinez(Lyons Press).
History/General Nonfiction Winner: The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood by David Montgomery (W.W. Norton & Co.)
Finalists: The Lost Bank: The Story of the Biggest Bank Failure in American History by Kirsten Grind (Simon & Schuster); Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden (Viking Press); David Douglas, A Naturalist at Work: An Illustrated Exploration Across Two Centuries in the Pacific Northwest by Jack Nisbet (Sasquatch Books); Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy by Douglas Smith (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
Picture Book Winner: Those Rebels, John & Tom by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham (Scholastic Press)
Honorable Mention: A Birthday for Bear by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton (Candlewick Press)
Young Adults (13- to 18-year-old readers) Winner: The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
Honorable Mention: Liberty’s Christmas by Randall Platt (Texas Tech University Press)
2012 Washington State Book Awards: Winners and Finalists
Fiction Winner: A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism by Peter Mountford (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Finalists: West of Here by Jonathan Evison (Algonquin Books); Ed King by David Guterson (Alfred A. Knopf); The Girl With Brown Fur: Tales Stories by Stacey Levine (Starcherone Books)
Bear Down, Bear North: Alaska Stories by Melinda Moustakis (University of Georgia Press).
Poetry Winner: Woodnote by Christine Deavel (Bear Star Press)
Finalists: Every Dress a Decision by Elizabeth Austen; What Have You Done to Our Ears to Make Us Hear Echoes? by Arlene Kim (Milkweed Editions); Underdog by Katrina Roberts (University of Washington Press); The Little Office of the Immaculate Conception by Martha Silano (Saturnalia Books).
Biography/Memoir Winner: In Earshot of Water: Notes from the Columbia Plateau by Paul Lindhold (The University of Iowa Press)
Finalists: Horses Never Lie About Love: The Heartwarming Story of a Remarkable Horse Who Changed the World Around Her by Jana Harris (Free Press); Shiro: Wit, Wisdom & Recipes from a Sushi Pioneer by Shiro Kashiba (Chin Music Press); Who In This Room: The Realities of Cancer, Fish, and Demolition by Katherine Malmo (Calyx Books); Potluck: Community on the Edge of Wilderness by Ana Maria Spanga (Oregon State University Press).
History/General Nonfiction Winner: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson (Crown Publishers)
Finalists: A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s by Stephanie Coontz (Basic Books); Finding the River: An Environmental History of the Elwha by Jeff Crane (Oregon State University Press); Atomic Frontier Days: Hanford and the American West by John Findlay and Bruce Hevly (University of Washington Press); Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle by Thor Hanson (Basic Books).
Picture Book Winner: To Market, To Market,written and illustrated by Nikki McClure (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
Middle Grade and Young Adults (10- to 18-year-old readers) Winner: Something to Hold by Katherine Schlick Noe (Clarion Books)
Finalist: Mysterious Bones: The Story of Kennewick Man by Katherine Kirkpatrick (Holiday House)
2011 Washington State Book Awards
Fiction Winner: Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes (Grove/Atlantic, Inc.)
Finalists: Healer by Carol Cassella (Simon & Schuster); Old Border Road by Susan Froderberg (Little Brown & Co.); Marry or Burn: Stories by Valerie Trueblood (Counterpoint Press); The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter (Harper).
Poetry Winner: The Bled by Frances McCue (Factory Hollow Press)
Finalists: Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room by Kelli Russell Agodon (White Pine Press); The Morning News Is Exciting by Don Mee Choi (Action Books); Requiem for the Orchard by Oliver de la Paz (University of Akron Press); The Alchemist’s Kitchen by Susan Rich (White Pine Press).
Biography/Memoir Winner: The Hustle: One Team and Ten Lives in Black and White by Doug Merlino (Bloomsbury)
Finalists: Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux); The Circumference of Home: One Man’s Yearlong Quest for a Radically Local Life by Kurt Hoelting (Da Capo Press); Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year by Robert Michael Pyle (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter’s Civil Rights Journey by Ana Maria Spagna (University of Nebraska Press).
History/General Nonfiction Winner: The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War by David Laskin (Harper).
Finalists: Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle by Thea Cooper (St. Martin’s Press); The Car That Brought You Here Still Runs: Revisiting the Northwest Towns of Richard Hugo by Frances McCue (University of Washington Press); Reality Hunger: A Manifesto by David Shields (Alfred A. Knopf); Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature’s Bounty by Craig Welch (HarperCollins).
Picture Book Winner: Polar Opposites written and illustrated by Erik Brooks (Marshall Cavendish)
Book for Early Readers (6- to 9-year-old readers): Guinea Dog by Patrick Jennings (Egmont USA)
Middle Grades and Young Adults (10- to 18-year-old readers): Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride (Henry Holt & Co.)
2010 Washington State Book Awards
Fiction Winner: Border Songs by Jim Lynch (Alfred A. Knopf)
Finalists: Misconception by Ryan Boudinot (Grove/Atlantic); Spooner by Pete Dexter (Grand Central Publishing); Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (Ballantine).
Poetry Winner: Inseminating the Elephant by Lucia Perillo (Copper Canyon Press)
Finalists: Face by Sherman Alexie (Hanging Loose Press); Ezekiel’s Wheels by Shirley Kaufman (Copper Canyon Press); The Tangled Line by Tod Marshall (Canarium Books); Upgraded to Serious by Heather McHugh (Copper Canyon Press); Prisoner of the Swifts by Judith Skillman (Ahadada Books).
History/Biography Winner: The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Finalists: The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown (William Morrow); Breaking Ground: The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and Unearthing of Tse-whit-zen Village by Lynda Mapes (University of Washington Press); The Collector: David Douglas and the Natural History of the Northwest by Jack Nisbet (Sasquatch Books); I’m Down: A Memoir by Mishna Wolff (St. Martins Press).
General Nonfiction Winner: Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science by Carol Yoon (W.W. Norton)
Finalists: Puget Sound Through an Artist’s Eye by Tony Angell (University of Washington Press); Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness by Lyanda Lynn Haupt (Little Brown & Company); Blessing of the Animals by Brenda Miller (Eastern Washington University Press); Stories in Stone: Travels Through Urban Geology by David Williams (Walker & Company).
Picture Book Winner: Before You Were Here, Mi Amor by Samantha Vamos, illustrated by Santiago Cohen (Viking Children’s Books)
Book for Early Readers (6- to 9-year-old readers) Winner: The Magical Ms. Plum by Bonny Becker (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Middle Grades and Young Adults (10- to 18-year-old readers) Winner: Brutal by Michael Harmon (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
2009 Washington State Book Awards
Fiction Winner: All About Lulu by Jonathan Evison (Soft Skull Press)
Finalists: Guernica by Dave Boling (Bloomsbury); Oxygen by Carol Cassella (Simon & Schuster); The Other by David Guterson (Alfred A. Knopf); White Jade and Other Stories by Alex Kuo (Wordcraft).
Poetry Winner: A Map of the Night by David Wagoner (University of Illinois Press)
Finalists: A Moon Over Wings by Thomas Aslin (Clark City Press); Flight: New and Selected Poems by Linda Bierds (G.P. Putnam’s Sons); Friendly Fire by Katrina Roberts (Lost Horse Press); The Radium Watch Dial Painters by D.S. Butterworth (Lost Horse Press).
History/Biography Winner: Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in the City of Masterpieces by Robert Clark (Doubleday)
Finalists: Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo by Kate Jackson (Harvard University Press); It’s Not About the Hair: And Other Uncertainties of Life & Cancer by Debra Jarvis (Sasquatch Books); Carl Maxey: A Fighting Life by Jim Kershner (University of Washington Press); Finding Chief Kamiakin: The Life and Legacy of a Northwest Patriot by Richard Scheuerman (Washington State University Press).
General Nonfiction Winner: S’abadeb: The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Arts and Artists, edited by Barbara Brotherton (Seattle Art Museum/University of Washington Press)
Finalists: The Owl and the Woodpecker: Encounters with North America’s Most Iconic Birds by Paul Bannick (Mountaineers Books); The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird by Bruce Barcott (Random House); The Weather of the Pacific Northwest by Cliff Mass (University of Washington Press); The Thing About Life is That One Day You’ll Be Dead by David Shields (Alfred A. Knopf).
Picture Book Winner: What to Do About Alice? How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! by Barbara Kerley, of McKinleyville, Calif., and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
Honorable Mention: A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady M. Denton (Candlewick Press)
Middle Grades and Young Adults (10- to 18-year-old readers) Winner: Emperors of the Ice: A True Story of Disaster in the Antarctic, 1910-13 by Richard Farr (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
2008 Washington State Book Awards
Fiction Winner: Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff (HarperCollins)
Finalists: Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (Ballantine Books); Male of the Species by Alex Mindt (Delphinium Books); Strange as This Weather Has Been by Ann Pancake (Shoemaker & Hoard); Fish Grooming and Other Stories by Joseph Powell (March Street Press).
Poetry Winner: The Grace of Necessity by Samuel Green(Carnegie-Mellon University Press)
Finalists: Mars Being Red by Marvin Bell (Copper Canyon Press); Red Studio by Mary Cornish (Oberlin College Press); What’s Written on the Body by Peter Pereira (Copper Canyon Press).
History/Biography Winner: Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place by Coll Thrush (University of Washington Press)
Finalists: Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King’s Last Campaign by Michael K. Honey (W.W. Norton & Co.); Lionel H. Pries, Architect, Artist, Educator: From Arts and Crafts to Modern Architecture by Jeffrey Ochsner (University of Washington Press).
General Nonfiction Winner: Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David R. Montgomery (University of California Press)
Finalists: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter and Tears at the World’s Most Famous Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn (Viking Books); Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible’s Harlot Queen by Lesley Hazleton (Doubleday); The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster and the Water We Drink by Robert Morris (HarperCollins); Sky Time in Grays River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place by Robert Michael Pyle (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).
The winners of the Scandiuzzi Children’s Book Award:
Rabbit’s Gift, a picture book by George Shannon illustrated by Laura Dronzek (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a book for middle grades and young adults by Sherman Alexie (Little Brown Young Readers)
2007 Washington State Book Awards
Fiction Winner: The Dead Fish Museum by Charles D’Ambrosio (Alfred A. Knopf)
Finalists: The Littlest Hitler: Stories by Ryan Boudinot (Counterpoint); The Inhabited World by David Long (Houghton Mifflin); The Zero by Jess Walter (Regan Books)
Poetry Winner: Spectral Waves by Madeline DeFrees (Copper Canyon Press)
Finalists: Famous by Kathleen Flenniken (University of Nebraska Press); Dear Ghosts by Tess Gallagher (Graywolf Press); Dark Alphabet by Jennifer Maier (Southern Illinois University Press); Potscrubber Lullabies by Eric McHenry (Waywiser Press)
History/Biography Winner: James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips (St. Martins Press)
Finalists: Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894 by Daniel James Brown (Lyons Press); Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles Cross (Hyperion); Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent: The Importance of Everything and Other Lessons from Darwin’s Lost Notebooks by Lyanda Lynn Haupt (Little, Brown); Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk (Houghton Mifflin)
General Nonfiction Winner: River of Memory: The Everlasting Columbia by William D. Layman (University of Washington Press)
The 2007 winners of the Scandiuzzi Children’s Book Award are:
Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant a picture book by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Carin Berger (Greenwillow Books)
Grand & Humble by Brent Hartinger (Harper Tempest)
Finalists: Moose Tracks by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jack E. Davis (Margaret K. McElderry Books); Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (Delacorte Press); Voyage of Plunder by Michele Torrey (Alfred A. Knopf).
2006 Washington State Book Awards
Fiction Winner: A Sudden Country by Karen Fisher (Random House)
Finalists: The Testing of Luther Albright by MacKenzie Bezos (Fourth Estate); Shoot the Buffalo by Matt Briggs (Clear Cut Press); Frances Johnson by Stacey Levine (Clear Cut Press); My Jim by Nancy Rawles (Crown); Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (Regan Books).
Poetry: Luck Is Luck by Lucia Perillo (Random House)
Finalists: Bellini in Istanbul by Lillias Bever (Tupelo); First Hand by Linda Bierds (G.P. Putnam’s Sons); Taken With by J.W. Marshall (Wood Works); The Quick by Katrina Roberts (University of Washington Press); Good Morning and Good Night by David Wagoner (University of Illinois Press).
History/Biography Winner: The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan (Houghton Mifflin)
Finalists: On American Soil by Jack Hamann (Algonquin); Strawberry Days by David Neiwert (Palgrave MacMillan); Michelangelo’s Mountain by Eric Scigliano (Free Press).
General Nonfiction Winner: In the Company of Crows and Ravens by John M. Marzluff and Tony Angell (Yale University Press)
Finalists: 58 Degrees North by Hugo Kugiya (Bloomsbury); Home Stand by James McKean (Michigan State University Press); Toward a New Regionalism by David Miller (University of Washington Press); My Holy War by Jonathan Raban (New York Review of Books).
The 2006 winners of the Scandiuzzi Children’s Book Award are:
So, What’s It Like to Be a Cat? a picture book by Karla Kuskin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
The Witch’s Boy, a novel by Michael Gruber, of Seattle (HarperTempest)
Finalists: The Bora-Bora Dress by Carole Lexa Schaefer, illustrated by Catherine Stock (Candlewick); Wild Roses by Deb Caletti (Simon & Schuster)