2004 Minnesota Book Awards Winners
April 26, 2004

The Minnesota Book Awards, sponsored by the Minnesota Humanities Commission, is an annual awards program that recognizes, honors, and celebrates Minnesota's literary culture. Since 1988, more than 750 Minnesota-written books have been Minnesota Book Award finalists—representing what some call "the best reading list in Minnesota."

The 16th Annual Minnesota Book Awards were presented on Sunday, April 25, 2004, at Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul. The following is a listing of the winners from each category.

Anthology and Collections
A Place Called Home: Writings on the Midwestern Small Town
Richard Davies, editor
Joseph Amato, editor
David Pichaske, editor
Minnesota Historical Society Press
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(From the publisher) The dynamic Midwestern small town—from its idyllic beginnings to its imminent decline—explored and celebrated in 34 selections of cultural history, fiction, and poetry, both classic and contemporary.

Autobiography and Memoir
The Language of Blood: A Memoir
Jane Jeong Trenka, author
Minnesota Historical Society Press
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An adoptee's search for identity takes her on a journey from Minnesota to Korea and back as she seeks to resolve the dualities that have long-defined her life: Korean-born, American-raised, never fully belonging to either.

Children's Literature
Hey Pancakes!
Tamson Weston, author
Stephen Gammell, illustrator
Silver Whistle
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(From the publisher) There's no better way to start any day than by whipping up a batch of everyone's favorite breakfast treat. Three kids and their "helpful" dog have taken over the kitchen for some early-morning pancake fun. Just a few flips, splatters, and oozing toppings later, the children dig into the yummiest stack of flapjacks ever.

Talented newcomer Tamson Weston and award-winning illustrator Stephen Gammell have teamed up to create a mouthwatering and fun book that's sure to send all kids—and their parents—straight to the kitchen for a heaping stack of their own!

Children's Non-fiction
Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story
Lisa Westberg-Peters, author
Lauren Stringer, illustrator
Harcourt Children's Books
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(From the publisher) All of us are part of an old, old family. The roots of our family tree reach back millions of years to the beginning of life on earth. Open this family album and embark on an amazing journey. You'll meet some of our oldest relatives—from both the land and the sea—and discover what we inherited from each of them along the many steps of our wondrous past. Complete with an illustrated timeline and glossary, here is the story of human evolution as it's never been told before.

Fine Press
Poetry of Chance Encounters
Harriet Bart, author
Mnemonic Press

History and Biography
Mill City: A Visual History of the Minneapolis Mill District
Shannon Pennefeather, editor
Minnesota Historical Society Press
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Dramatic first-person narratives and historic photographs bring to life the history of the Minneapolis riverfront, its industries, and its people. This new book is being published to celebrate the opening of Mill City Museum. The 70,000-square-foot interactive museum opened in the spring of 2003 within ruins of the historic Washburn-Crosby A Mill in downtown Minneapolis.

Nature and Minnesota
Looking for the Summer: A 94 Day Journey
Jim Brandenburg, photographer
NorthWord Press

(From the publisher) World-renowned photographer Jim Brandenburg once again uses the hidden world of his beloved northern woods as the setting for a daunting artistic challenge. From June 21st to September 21st, Jim spent each day capturing the spirit of the Northern Minnesota wilderness through his camera. At the end of each day, Jim edited the day's shoot and picked the best shot to represent that day's adventure. The resulting book literally teems with life. It is filled with the color and action of a pristine natural world during its most energetic season of the year. It features all of Brandenburg's favorite subjects: wildlife and wildflowers, water and wide-open skies. As always, Jim brings the photojournalist's instinct for the critical moment to each photo. His is a style quite unlike any other nature or wildlife photographer. As was true of the best-selling Chased by the Light, Jim's exercise in photographic technique became something much, much more: a study in human perspective and vision. For, in addition to being a world-class photographer, Jim Brandenburg is a philosopher/poet. As any reader of his work knows, Jim's influences are broad: native American mythology; classical Japanese culture; and Zen Buddhism. Most of all, though, Jim has lived his life as a dedicated student of the natural world-of earth and sky, of water and wind, of plants and creatures. It is in the cyclical rhythms of the natural world that Jim discovers serenity and the meaning of life, and these lessons are conveyed brilliantly through the images and words married together in this book.

Novel and Short Story
Where No Gods Came
Sheila O'Connor, author
University of Michigan Press
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(From the publisher) Enmeshed in a tangled family web, young Faina McCoy is abruptly uprooted against her will from her father and finds herself half a continent away on the doorstep of a mother who abandoned her years before—but who can't live without Faina now. Alone, persecuted, and exploited, Faina must fend for herself in her search for love and answers, navigating the streets of a strange city and forging bonds of feeling with liars and outlaws. In this candid portrait of the unlikely faces of good and evil and how an innocent must learn to recognize them to endure, award-winning author Sheila O'Connor tells the compelling story of a young girl caught in a perilous scheme of elaborate lies created for her own survival. Where No Gods Came is a powerful look at assimilation and resilience and the sacrifices we all make to adapt. It's a potent reminder, too, of the tenacity and courage required of fragile families who endure on the edge; Faina McCoy triumphs as an unlikely—and unforgettable—heroine, a stubborn child who will survive to tell the tale.

Poetry
Coming Late to Rachmaninoff
Richard Terrill, author
University of Tampa Press

Popular Fiction
Monkeewrench
P.J. Tracy, author
G.P. Putnam's Sons
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(From the publisher) Haunted by a series of horrifying episodes in their past, Grace McBride and the oddball crew of her software company, Monkeewrench, create a computer game where the killer is always caught. But their game becomes a nightmare when someone starts duplicating the fictional murders in real life.

Young Adult Literature
Sweetblood
Pete Hautman, author
Simon & Schuster
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(From the publisher) There are only two races that matter: the Living and the Undead ... and with every year that passes, the numbers of the Undead grow. It is inevitable.

So says Lucy Szabo. She has a theory: Hundreds of years ago, before the discovery of insulin, slowly dying diabetics were the original "vampires." Lucy, a diabetic herself, counts herself among the modern Undead.

As Sweetblood, she frequents the Transylvania room, an Internet chat room where so-called vampires gather to discuss all things goth. But Draco, one of the other visitors to Transylvania, claims to be a real vampire—and Lucy's not entirely sure he's kidding.

As Lucy becomes more involved with the goth/vampire subculture, everything in her life begins to unravel. Her grades plummet, her relationship with her parents deteriorates, and her ability to regulate her blood sugar worsens dramatically.

Then she meets Draco face-to-face, and he invites her into his strange world. Lucy realizes that she needs to make some difficult choices—if it isn't already too late.

Pete Hautman's new take on vampires is a disturbing and fascinating story about an intelligent, cynical teen reinventing herself in the face of a chronic illness.

Young Adult Non-fiction
Northern Lights: The Stories of Minnesota's Past
Dave Kenney, author
Minnesota Historical Society Press