Boswell's top-selling picture books (including board books and early chapter books) of 2017

To split or not to split, that is the question. Whether tis nobler to go with one list or suffer the slings and arrows of numerous slicings and dicings. 2017 is asleep, and by sleep we say it's ended. In the end, I went with two lists, one for birth to about age 7 (the picture books) and one for age 8 and up (the chapter books).

Top 50 picture books for kids
1. The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors, by Drew Daywalt with illustrations by Adam Rex
2. La La La, by Kate DiCamillo with illustrations by Jaime Tan
3. Pout Pout Fish and the Bully Bully Shark, by Deborah Diesen with illustrations by Dan Hanna
4. A Creepy Pair of Underwear, by Aaron Reynolds with illustrations by Peter Brown
5. Sail Away Dragon, by Barbara Joosse with illustrations by Randy Cecil
6. Egg, by Kevin Henkes
7. The Good for Nothing Button, by Charise Mericle Harper, with illustrations by Mo Willems
8. Dog Man Unleashed, by Dav Pilkey
9. The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt, with illustrations by Oliver Jeffers
10. The Girl Who Buried Her Dreams in a Can, by Tererai Trent, with illustrations by Jan Spivey Gilchrist
11. A Is for Activist, by Innosanto Nagara
12. Pout Pout Fish, by Debroah Diesen, with illustrations by Dan Hanna
13. She Persisted, by Chelsea Clinton, with illustrations by Alexandra Boiger
14. Heart to Heart, by Lois Ehlert
15. The Day the Crayons Came Home, by Drew Daywalt, with illustrations by Oliver Jeffers
16. My Book of Beautiful Oops, by Barney Saltzberg
17. Here We Are, by Oliver Jeffers
18. Dog Man, by Dav Pilkey
19. Beautiful Oops, by Barney Saltzberg
20. Creepy Carrots!, by Aaron Reynolds, with illustrations by Peter Brown
21. Green Pant
23. Margaret and the Moon, by Dean Robbins, with illustrations by Lucy Knisley
24. I Am a Bunny, by Ole Rissom, with illustrations by Richard Scarry
25. Two Friends, Dean Robbins, with illustrations by Susan Qualls
26. Little I, by Michael Hall
27. Rulers of the Playground, by Joseph Kuefler
28. Better Together, by Barbara Joosse and Anneke Lisberg
29. A Tale of Two Kitties, by Dav Pilkey
30. Thank You Book, by Mo Willems
31. We Are in a Book, by Mo Willems
32. Dragons Love Tacos, by Adam Rubin, with illustrations by Daniel Salmieri
33. The Very Hungry Caterpillar board book, Eric Carle
34. Dragons Love Tacos 2, by Adam Rubin, with illustrations by Daniel Salmieri
35. Beyond the Pond, by Joseph Kuefler
36. Miss Paul and the President, by Dean Robbins, with illustrations by Nancy Zhang
37. To the Stars, by Kathy Sullivan and Carmella Van Vleet, with illustrations by Nicole Wong
38. Out of Wonder, by Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderly and Marjorie Wentworth
39. We Are Growing, by Laurie Keller, with illustrations by Mo Willems
40. Goodnight Moon board book, by Margaret Wise Brown, with illustrations by Clement Hurd
41. Lovabye Dragon, by Barbara Joosse, with illustrations by Randy Cecil
42. Pierre the Maze Detective: The Mystery of Empire Maze Towers, by Hiro Kamigaki
43. My Journey to the Stars, by Scott Kelly, with illustrations by Andre Ceolin
44. Princess in Black, by Shannon Hale
45. Ivy and Bean, by Annie Barrows, with illustrations by Sophie Blackall
46. Bently and Egg, by William Joyce
47. Life on Mars, by Jon Agee
48. The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse, by Mac Barnett, with illustrations by Jon Klassen
49. Ada Twist, Scientist, by Andrea Beaty, with illustrations by David Roberts
50. After the Fall, by Dan Santat

I don't think we have any other list where the same book has hit our top 50 for nine consecutive years, but I'm pretty certain that, without checking, I Am a Bunny has. IAAB was our #12 picture/board book of 2016 and was our #15 book (for all categories combined!) for 2009.

Unlike the adult lists, our kids top 50 is filled with authors with multiple representations. Unlike public events, where there is one or perhaps two focus titles, our school events can have up to four supplemental titles in addition to the featured one, and they often sell in strong numbers.

Here's a stat you probably wouldn't expect. This year we have three books from three different writers about the space program, all tied into events. In addition to astronaut picture books from Kathy Sullivan and Scott Kelly, there's Dean Robbins's Margaret and the Moon.

Yes, this list is particularly event heavy, but not all the authors actually appeared for the events. All those Mo Willems books sold from us taking around Elephant and Piggy costumes to area schools.

And like in all the lists, we have removed some bulk sale purchases of backlist titles from these numbers.