Thank You, Independent Booksellers!

Returned home from winter break to delightful news: Bamboo People is shortlisted as a Book of the Year finalist in the Young Adult Novel category of the 2011 Indies Choice Awards. Here are the nominees (in alphabetical order):

• Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins (Charlesbridge)
• Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (HarperCollins)
• Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (Knopf)
• Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper (Atheneum)
• Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (Delacorte)
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan (Dutton)

And, as if that's not enough, I'm a finalist in the "Most Engaging Author" category, given to an "author who is an in-store star with a strong sense of the importance of indie booksellers to the community."

Don't know about the first part of the description, but the second is certainly true: I'd be nowhere as an author were it not for my indies. Being in the company of the other nominees is a huge part of this honor: Laurie Halse Anderson, Jonathan Evison, Kevin Henkes, Richard Russo, and Terry Tempest Williams.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, independent booksellers, a national treasure. May you live long and prosper!