1998 ABBY Winners Announced
Posted on May 20, 1998
The American Booksellers Association (ABA) announced that Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and The Hat by Jan Brett are the winners of the 1998 American Booksellers Book of the Year (ABBY) Awards. Cold Mountain, published by Atlantic Monthly Press, was this year's winner in the adult category, and The Hat, published by The Putnam Publishing Group, took top honors in the children's category.
Chosen by independent booksellers across the country, the ABBY awards represent the books that booksellers most enjoyed recommending to their customers throughout the previous year. Both winners were critically acclaimed and became bestsellers, due in large part to "hand-selling" by independent booksellers across the country. "Hand-selling" is defined as the personalized relationships independent booksellers develop with customers, understanding their interests and reading habits and matching them with the right book.
In addition to the top winner in each category, there are four 1998 ABBY honor books. In the adult trade category, these are, in alphabetical order:
- All Over but the Shoutin', by Rick Bragg, published by Pantheon Books.
- At Home in Mitford, by Jan Karon, published by Viking Penguin (cloth) and Lion Publishing and Penguin Books (both in paperback).
- Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, published by Villard Books.
- Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden, published by Knopf.
- The Gardener, by Sarah Stewart, illustrated by David Small, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux;
- To Market, To Market, by Anne Miranda, illustrated by Janet Stevens, published by Harcourt Brace & Company;
- Toot & Puddle, by Holly Hobbie, published by Little, Brown & Company;
- When Jessie Came Across the Sea, by Amy Hest, illustrated by P.J. Lynch, published by Candlewick Press.