Indies Choice Book Awards / E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards (2009–2019*)

Formerly the Book Sense Book of the Year Awards, the Indies Choice Book Awards reflected the spirit of independent bookstores nationwide and the IndieBound movement. Book of the Year winners and Honor Award recipients were all titles nominated by ABA member booksellers to the Indie Next Lists.

The E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards, previously administered by the Association of Booksellers for Children, recognized books that reflect the playful, well-paced language, the engaging themes, and the universal appeal to a wide range of ages embodied by E.B. White’s collection of beloved books. With the 2010 merger of ABC into ABA, they replaced the Indies Choice Book Awards in the categories of Middle Reader and New Picture Book.

2019*

Indies Choice Award Winners

• Adult Fiction: Circe: A Novel, by Madeline Miller (Lee Boudreaux Books)
• Adult Nonfiction: Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover (Random House)
• Adult Debut: There There: A Novel, by Tommy Orange (Knopf)
• Audiobook: Circe: A Novel, by Madeline Miller, read by Perdita Weeks (Hachette Audio)
• Young Adult: The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo (HarperTeen)

2018

Indies Choice Award Winners

• Adult Fiction: Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel, by Jesmyn Ward (Scribner)
• Adult Nonfiction: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann (Doubleday)
• Adult Debut: Her Body and Other Parties: Stories, by Carmen Maria Machado (Graywolf Press)
• Audiobook: Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders, read by Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, George Saunders, and a full cast (Random House Audio)
• Young Adult: The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas (Balzer + Bray)

• Ada Twist, Scientist, by Andrea Beaty, David Roberts (Illus.) (Harry N. Abrams)
• I Have a Dream, by Martin Luther King Jr., Kadir Nelson (Illus.) (Schwartz & Wade)
• We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen, Helen Oxenbury (Illus.) (Margaret K. McElderry Books)

2017

Indies Choice Award Winners

• Adult Fiction: The Underground Railroad: A Novel, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
• Adult Nonfiction: The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate — Discoveries From a Secret World, by Peter Wohlleben (Greystone Books)
• Adult Debut: Homegoing: A Novel, by Yaa Gyasi (Knopf)
• Young Adult: Salt to the Sea, by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel Books)

2016

Indies Choice Award Winners

• Adult Fiction: Fates and Furies: A Novel, by Lauren Groff (Riverhead)
• Adult Nonfiction: Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel & Grau)
• Adult Debut: Kitchens of the Great Midwest: A Novel, by J. Ryan Stradal (Pamela Dorman Books/Viking)
• Young Adult: Due to a tie in the voting, two winners were chosen:
  • ​Anna and the Swallow Man, by Gavriel Savit (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
  • Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson (HarperTeen)

Indie Champion

• Richard Russo

E.B. White Read-Aloud Award Winners

• Middle Reader: The Thing About Jellyfish, by Ali Benjamin (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• Picture Book: Mother Bruce, by Ryan T. Higgins (Disney-Hyperion)

Picture Book Hall of Fame Inductees

• Due to a tie in the voting four titles were inducted:
  • Eloise, by Kay Thompson, Hilary Knight (Illus.) (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
  • Olivia, by Ian Falconer (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
  • Strega Nona, by Tomi dePaola (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
  • Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Stieg (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

2015

Indies Choice Award Winners

• Adult Fiction: All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)
• Adult Nonfiction: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande (Metropolitan Books)
• Adult Debut: The Martian, by Andy Weir (Crown)
• Young Adult: The Darkest Part of the Forest, by Holly Black (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Indie Champion Award

• Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer

E.B. White Read-Aloud Award Winners

• Middle Reader: Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy Paulsen Books)
• Picture Book: Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, Illustrator (Candlewick)

Picture Book Hall of Fame Inductees

2014

Indies Choice Award Winners

• Adult Fiction: Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson (Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown and Company)
• Adult Nonfiction: The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown (Viking)
• Adult Debut: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, by Anthony Marra (Hogarth)
• Young Adult: Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell (St. Martin’s Griffin)

Indie Champion

• James Patterson

Picture Book Hall of Fame Inductees

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle (Holt Books for Young Readers)
• Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd, Illustrator (HarperCollins)
• Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards

• Middle Reader: Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DeCamillo and K.G. Campbell, Illustrator (Candlewick)
• Picture Book: The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers, Illustrator (Philomel)

2013

Indies Choice Award Winners

• Adult Fiction: The Round House, by Louise Erdrich (Harper)
• Adult Nonfiction: Wild, By Cheryl Strayed
• Adult Debut: The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey (Regan Arthur/Little Brown)
• Young Adult: The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green (Dutton Juvenile)
• Picture Book: Bread and Jam for Frances, by Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban, Illustrator (HarperCollins)

Indie Champion

• John Green

E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards

• Middle Reader: Wonder, by R.J. Palacio (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
• Picture Book: Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett and Jon Klaassen, Illustrator (Balzer + Bray)

Picture Book Hall of Fame Inductees

• Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobokina (HarperCollins)
• Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson (HarperCollins)
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by Jon and Lane Smith Illustrator (Viking Juvenile)

2012

Indies Choice Award Winners

• Adult Fiction Book of the Year: The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year: Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, by Gabrielle Hamilton (Random House)
• Adult Debut Book of the Year: The Tiger’s Wife, by Téa Obreht (Random House)
• Young Adult Book of the Year: Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel)
• Most Engaging Author: Ann Patchett

E.B. White Read-Aloud Award Winners

• Middle Reader: The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy, Ian Schoenherr (Illus.) (Putnam Juvenile) and Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, Carson Ellis (Illus.) (Balzer + Bray)
• Picture Book: I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen (Candlewick Press) 

Picture Book Hall of Fame Inductees

• Curious George, by H.A. Rey (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• The Little Engine That Could, by Watty Piper (Grosset & Dunlap / Philomel)
• Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney (Viking Juvenile/Puffin)

2011

Indies Choice Book Award Winners

• Adult Fiction: Room, by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown)
• Adult Nonfiction: Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House)
• Adult Debut: Matterhorn, by Karl Marlantes (Atlantic Monthly Press and El León Literary Arts)
• Young Adult: Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
• Most Engaging Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

E.B.White Read-Aloud Award Winners 

• Middle Reader: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, by Tom Angleberger (Amulet Books)
• Picture Book: Children Make Terrible Pets, by Peter Brown (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Picture Book Hall of Fame Inductees

• Corduroy, by Don Freeman (Viking)
• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats (Viking)
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle (Philomel)

2010

Indies Choice Book Award Winners

• Adult Fiction: Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese (Knopf)
• Adult Nonfiction: The Lost City of Z, by David Grann (Doubleday)
• Adult Debut: The Help, by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam)
• Young Adult: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
• Middle Reader: When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books)
• New Picture Book: The Lion and the Mouse, by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown)
• Most Engaging Author: Kate DiCamillo

E.B. White Read-Aloud Award Winners

• Middle Reader: The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z., by Kate Messner (Walker)
• Picture Book: The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Picture Book Hall of Fame Inductees

• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst and Ray Cruz (Atheneum)
• Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans (Viking)
• The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson (Viking)

2009

Indies Choice Book Award Winners

• Best Indie Buzz Book (Fiction): The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (The Dial Press)
• Best Conversation Starter (Nonfiction): The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell (Riverhead)
• Best Author Discovery: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski (Ecco)
• Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book (Fiction): The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)
• Best New Picture Book: Bats at the Library, by Brian Lies (Houghton Mifflin)
• Most Engaging Author: Sherman Alexie

*Initially launched in 2010 as the Indies Choice Book Awards / E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards, the awards previously coincided with BookExpo and were postponed in 2019.