Boswell's Bestselling Children's Books of 2012.

For kids’ books, I normally either lump everything together or divide the books by book type, grouping board books with hardcovers, which of course doesn’t exactly make sense, since their binding and price point is more akin to paperbacks. This is leftover from my days at Schwartz, when we would occasionally discount only hardcovers in a category. We’d lump paper over board as a hardcover, but flexible bindings (as in the Audubon nature guides) were paperbacks, even though the binding methods suggested the opposite. To consumers, it wasn’t binding, but does the cover bend, that seemed to indicate what they thought the book was. None of this matters today, but who doesn’t love a long aside?

Top Selling Board Books of 2012:
1. I am a Bunny, by Ole Risom, with illustrations by Richard Scarry
2. Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Weiss Brown
3. Good Night Wisconsin, by Adam Gamble and Mark Jasper
4. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, by Mem Fox, with illustrations by Helen Oxenbury
5. Pat the Bunny, by Dorothy Kunhardt
6. Good Night Gorilla, by Peggy Rathmann
7. Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See? , by Bill Martin, with illustrations by Eric Carle
8. Safari, by Dan Kainen (yes, I know this was published as an adult book)
9. The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats
10. Snow, by Uri Shulevitz

Needless to say, this category tends to be backlist heavy. Besides the controversial Safari (Jason and Amie made that designation, and aside from the abnormal price point for the category, I don’t see an issue with the placement), the other two new titles are Good Night Wisconsin and Snow. The category tends to be split between originals, relatively straightforward adaptations from picture books, and spinoffs from picture books. The next most popular brand new title is Patrick McDonnell’s Hug Time at #14. At #15 is Alice Schertle’s Little Blue Truck, a book I hadn’t paid much attention to, that will likely cross the hundred threshold mark in 2013.

Top Selling Picture Books of 2012:
1. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, by William Joyce (event)
2. Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, by Sherri Duskey Rinkerm, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
3. Amelia Bedelia’s First Vote, by Herman Parish, illustrated by Lynne Avril (event)
4. The Sandman: Guardians of Childhood, by William Joyce (event)
5. Boot and Shoe, by Marla Frazee (event)
6. A Sick Day for Amos McGee, by Philip Stead, illustrated by Erin Stead
7. Waking Dragons, by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Derek Anderson (event)
8. All the World, by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee (two events)
9. The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss
10. Diary of a Worm, by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Harry Bliss

Followed by Bad Kitty, more Seuss, more Diaries, and local favorite Lisa Moser’s Railroad Hank, and there was no event involved with those sales. Maybe in 2013…

Top Selling Chapter and Intermediate Books of 2012:
1. The Hollow Earth, by John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman (event)
2. The Third Wheel: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney (event)
3. A Mutiny in Time: The Infinity Ring, by James Dashner (event)
4. The Legend of Diamond Lil, by Doreen Cronin (event)
5. The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, by Trenton Lee Stewart (event)
6. The Dead of Night: The 39 Clues, Cahills Vs. Vespers, by Peter Lerangis (event)
7. Cold Cereal, by Adam Rex (event)
8. The Cheerleaders of Doom: Nerds, by Michael Buckley (event)
9. The Council of Mirrors: The Sisters Grimm, by Michael Buckley (event)
10. The Invisible Tower, by Nils Johnson-Shelton (event)

We have to head to numbers 13, 14, and 15 to find non-event books making a showing. First is Rick Riordan’s The Mark of Athena: Heroes of Olympus, followed by Lemony Snicket’s Who Could it Be at This Hour? The third most popular non-event book, coming in at #15 is Sheila Turnage’s Three Times Lucky.

Top Young Adult and Teen Books of 2012:
1. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
2. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
3. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
4. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
5. The Diviners, by Libba Bray (event)
6. The Hunters: Brotherband Chronicles, by John Flanagan (event)
7. Insurgent, by Veronica Roth
8. The Evolution of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin (event)
9. Son, by Lois Lowry
10. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher

One thing that Amie and I noticed is the collapse of Suzanne Collins momentum at the start of the holiday season. We’re assuming it will pick up with info on movie #2, but with Twilight, it was a little less each time, as the merchandise started overwhelming the mass merchants. It’s our feeling that the film surprised a lot of non-book retailers with it success, giving bookstores an opening to sell a ton of books.

Well, I think this is it, unless you want to know our most popular magazines or something. Hey, that might be a good idea.