Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Boswell Kids' Bestsellers of 2014 Part One: Picture Books and Middle-Grade Books.

Picture Books and Board Books
1. Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen
2. Goodnight Moon board book, by Margaret Wise Brown
3. The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
4. I am a Bunny, by Ole Risom, illustrated by Richard Scarry
5. Skippyjon Jones: Snow What, by Judy Schachner
6. Pat the Bunny, by Dorothy Kunhardt
7. The Scraps Book, by Lois Ehlert
8. The Pout Pout Fish Goes to School, by Deborah Diesen, illustrated by Dan Hanna
9. The Noisy Paintbox, by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary Grandpre
10. Fiona's Lace, by Patricia Polacco
11. President Taft is Stuck in the Bath, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
12. Before After, by Matthias Arégui and Anne-Margot Ramstein
13. It's an Orange Aardvark, by Michael Hall
14. The Snowy Day board book, by Ezra Jack Keats
15. Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen
16. I Want my Hat Back, by Jon Klassen
17. This is Not my Hat, by Jon Klassen
18. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes board book, by Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
19. Contablock, by Christopher Franceschelli, illustrated by Peskimo
20. Once Upon an Alphabet, by Oliver Jeffers
21. The Book with No Pictures, by B.J. Novak
22. The Scrambled States of America, by Laurie Keller
23. Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein
24. Little Blue Truck's Christmas, by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry
25. Time For Bed board book, by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jane Dyer
26. Hush Little Polar Bear board book, by Jeff Mack
27. The Very Hungry Caterpillar board book, by Eric Carle
28. Good Night Wisconsin, by Adam Gable and Mark Jasper
29. The Pilot and the Little Prince, by Peter Sís
30. Telephone, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jen Corace
31. Arnie the Donut, by Laurie Keller
32. The Little Blue Truck, by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry
33. Have You Seen my Dragon?, by Steve Light
34. Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illustrated by Tom Lichenheld
35. Journey, by Aaron Becker

If anything, our kids' bestsellers are even more event driven than our adult ones, though I should note that Sam & Dave Dig a Hole would have made this year-end list even without the event. Left off this list are bulk orders of older titles, but I'll include them if we've had several bulk orders throughout the year. The board book sales tend to build over time, hence a lot of backlist titles. So it's a big deal when new hardcover picture books really makes the list on it's on, without an' event, like Steve Light's Have You Seen my Dragon?

Alas, there did not seem to be a picture book driving folks into the store, the way The Day the Crayons Quit last year was, or Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site in 2011 and though Dragons Love Tacos has been on the national bestseller lists for close to a year, we simply haven't gotten the traction on that one.  The current #1 on the NYT is B.J. Novak's The Book with no Pictures, which is selling ok for us.

Chapter and Middle-Grade Books
1. Hollow Earth, by John and Carole E. Barrowman
2. Einstein the Class Hamster and the Very Real Game Show, by Janet Tashjian
3. Timmy Failure: Now Look What You've Done, by Stephan Pastis
4. The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, by Sheila Turnage
5. Three Times Lucky, by Sheila Turnage
6. Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not so Glam TV Star, by Rachel Renée Russell
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, by Jeff Kinney
8. Timmy Failure: Mistakes were Made, by Stephan Pastis
9. Wonder, by R.J. Palacio
10. The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann
11. Bird, by Crystal Chan
12. Better Nate than Ever, by Tim Federle
13. The Scavengers, by Michael Perry
14. Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief, by Wendelin Van Draanen
15. Missing: Found, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
16. The 26-Story Treehouse, by Andy Griffiths
17. Einstein the Class Hamster, by Janet Tashjian
18. The Heroes of Olympus: The Blood of Heroes, by Rick Riordan
19. The 13-Story Treehouse, by Andy Griffiths
20. The Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela
21. Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo
22. My Life as a Book, by Janet Tashjian
23. Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus, by Tom Angleberger
24. Animalium, by Jenny Broom and Katie Scott
25. Five, Six, Seven, Nate, by Tim Federle
26. Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, by Katherine Rundell
27. The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, by Lisa McMann
28. Adventures of Artie the Donut: Bowling Alley Bandit, by Laurie Keller
29. The Minecraft Essential Handbook, by the Scholastruic Editors
30. The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani
31. The Unwanteds: Island of Legends, by Lisa McMann
32. Missing: Sent, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
33. My Life as a Cartoonist, by Janet Tashjian
34. Sisters, by Raina Telgemeier
35. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, by Jeff Kinney
36. Wildwood, by Colin Meloy
37. The Thickety: A Path Begins, by J.A. White
38. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, by Tom Angleberger
39. Squirrels on Skis, by J. Hamilton Ray
40. Spy Camp, by Stuart Gibbs

One of the tricks of kids' events is that sometimes the author only does schools and doesn't have the public event. There are twofold issues. For developing authors, a there's some concern that the author doesn't have enough of a following to get a big enough audience. There are also logistics issues. If you're planning on a different city every day and the author is doing schools in the morning and afternoon, you need the evening for travel.

If you exclude events, the bestselling titles turn out to be Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, which was the bestselling book of the year on Bookscan, for adults or kids, Wonder, and The Blood of Heroes. Wonder is the current #1 on the New York Times. Oh, to continue the confusion, I grouped 10 and up books with young adult if that's where we sectioned them, whereas the NYT calls them middle grade. You'll catch that difference on the next list, which I'll post as soon as I can, as I am bringing my laptop in yet again.

And one last note, there is probably at least one error in here. I almost lost Animalium somehow in the tabulations, and I have no idea why. I'm going to blame the laptop and the still-hyper-sensitive touchpad.

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