Charts Children’s bestsellers
Child. Thus far in 2017, 209 different children’s books have earned more than £100,000 through the TCM, a record at this point in a year. In comparison, by the 33rd week in 2016 a slimmer 173 titles had earned six figures through BookScan.
The doctor is in Across the pond in Trumplandia, there is a World Book Day-esque promotion that celebrates reading for young people, with millions of school- children participating. And, like WBD, it generates oodles of sales (seven of this year’s UK top 20 are the event’s £1 titles, led by Walliams’ Blob). There is one major difference: the US’ Read Across America Day (RAAD) focuses on just one author: Dr Seuss. RAAD runs annually on the school day closest to Dr Seuss’ 2nd March birthday, and it all but assures The Grinch creator will dominate the children’s charts for at least the first half of the year (it is also a huge boon for Random House Children’s, while other US publishers must smile through grited teeth, making the appropriate noises about how RAAD boosts reading in general, all the while waiting for 2061: the year in which Seuss’ titles will start to enter the public domain). Oh, the Places You’ll Go! tops the US charts by 135,000 units, helped by RAAD and the fact that the title is oſten given as a high school/univer- sit graduation giſt. A further four Seuss titles are in the top 20, and he claims 10 spots in the overall top 100. A stark contrast between the UK and US markets is that classic chil- dren’s titles stay at the top of the later for far longer: only nine of the US top 20 were originally writen this century, compared that just one title in the UK chart: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. (The content of Enid Blyton’s Good Old Timmy and Other Stories was certainly writen in the 20th century, but this particular collection has never been published before). The US evergreen bestsell- ers can be venerable: Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd’s Good- night Moon was originally published in 1947, with The Cat in the Hat issued a decade later than that.
Even relative newcomers have
staying power. R J Palacio’s Wonder, originally released in 2012, has not
www.thebookseller.com the bestseller lists
United Kingdom title
1 The World’s Worst Children 2 2 Blob
3 Grandpa’s Great Escape 4 The Midnight Gang
33 weeks to 19th August author imprint isbn (978+) sales
D Walliams & T Ross HC Children’s 0008259624 293,193 David Walliams
HC Children’s 0008221539 238,355
5 Peppa Loves World Book Day! – Ladybird 6 Gangsta Granny
7 Where’s Wally? The Fantastic Journey Martin Handford 8 Harry Potter... Philosopher’s Stone 9 The World’s Worst Children
J K Rowling
C Freedman & Cort David Walliams David Walliams
D Walliams & T Ross HC Children’s 0008183424 150,825 D Walliams & T Ross HC Children’s 0008164614 128,239 0141378312
124,255
D Walliams & T Ross HC Children’s 0007371464 121,351 Walker
Bloomsbury
10 Disney Beauty and the Beast... – Parragon 11 Everyone Loves Underpants 12 Awful Auntie 13 Demon Dentist 14 Butterfly Beach 15 Double Down 16 Old School
17 Harry Potter... Chamber of Secrets 18 Good Old Timmy and Other Stories 19 Horrid Henry Funny Fact Files 20 Tom Gates: Family, Friends...
United States title
1 Oh, the Places You’ll Go! 2 Wonder
3 Double Down
4 Green Eggs and Ham 5 Dog Man Unleashed 6 Goodnight Moon 7 First 100 Words
8 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 9 One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue 10 Love You Forever
11 The Very Hungry Caterpillar 12 The Trials of Apollo 13 Dr Seuss’s ABC
14 Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What... See 15 Giraffes Can’t Dance 16 The Cat in the Hat
J Wilson & N Sharratt Corgi Jeff Kinney Jeff Kinney J K Rowling Enid Blyton
F Simon & T Ross Liz Pichon
Puffin Puffin
D Walliams & T Ross HC Children’s 0008197032 115,788 1474852470
107,771
S&S Children’s 1471163074 106,326 HC Children’s 0007453627 105,558 HC Children’s 0007453580 104,462 0552576222 104,003 0141373010 0141377094 1408855669 1444937190
Bloomsbury Hodder
Orion Children’s 1510102798 Scholastic
1407168111
99,113 97,727 94,388 88,952 88,012 87,556
33 weeks to 20th August author Dr Seuss
R J Palacio Jeff Kinney Dr Seuss
Dav Pilkey imprint isbn (978+) sales
RH Children’s 0679805274 527,416 Knopf Young... 0375869020 392,151 Amulet
1419723445 365,808
RH Children’s 0394800165 271,461 Graphix
0545935203 264,834
M Wise Brown & C Hurd HarperFestival 0694003617 252,702 Roger Priddy J K Rowling Dr Seuss
Priddy
R Munsch & S McGraw Firefly Eric Carle
Rick Riordan Dr Seuss
0312510787 243,930
Arthur A Levine 1338099133 231,455 RH Children’s 0394800134 222,726 0920668375 205,298 0399226908 204,990
Philomel
Eric Carle & Bill Martin Henry Holt Andrae & Parker-Rees Cartwheel Dr Seuss
17 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone J K Rowling J K Rowling Sandra Boynton
18 Pokemon Deluxe Essential Handbook – Scholastic 19 Fantastic Beasts... Find Them 20 The Going to Bed Book
Disney-Hyperion 1484746424 196,647 RH Children’s 0679882817 193,598 0805047905 192,005 0545392556 188,992
RH Children’s 0394800011 175,928 Arthur A Levine 0590353427 175,821 0545795661
173,835
Arthur A Levine 1338109061 173,682 Little Simon 0671449025 168,204
1406376753 121,210 1408855652 119,114
been out of the US children’s top 20 since, shiſting around 450,000 units in all editions a year. But 2017 looks certain to be a record year for the title, with 443,000 copies (all editions) sold in the first 33 weeks, and a much- anticipated film adaptation—starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson and directed by The Perks of Being a Wall- flower author Stephen Chbosky—out
in November. Its UK release is slated for 1st December. Overall, Wonder and the clas- sic titles are enabling the market to grow despite the hole leſt by 2016’s
...Cursed Child bonanza. (Rowling et al’s title sold 4.45 million units in the US last year). Some 136.97 million kids’ units have been shiſted through BookScan US in 2017, a rise of 2.9%.
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