Kids Love To Read
March 1, 2010
Sales of children’s books have seen a healthy increase with a rise of almost 5% with picture books sales increasing to 13% on 2008 figures. In the UK last year more than 60 million books were sold generating more than £293m to the book industry.
Taking the top 5 spots for best selling books were Stephenie Meyers Twilight series of books contributing £29.3m in sales. Her series of books of modern day vampires have been a massive hit.
National Year of Reading and World Book Day usually held in March are now regular events with schools participating in after school book sales. Children usually receive a £1 book voucher as encouragement to buy a new book. Also many campaigns have encouraged parents to read to their children from an early age particular introducing babies and toddlers to to picture books.
Anthony Browne, Children’s Laureate says “The best picture books leave a tantalising gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the reader’s imagination”.
Library lending is also on the increase with children borrowing more books than 3 to 4 years ago. Libraries are also playing an important role in encouraging children to read by staging more events for children to join in on such as meet the author sessions.
The best selling young children’s books were
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Tyrannosaurus Drip Song by Julia Donaldson
Stick Man by Julia Donaldson
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sandak
The Gruffalo’s Child by Julia Donaldson
On a footnote my 5 year old read a book to me yesterday for the first time. We were waiting in the car for his big sister when he proudly read Hide and Seek to me. What a joyous and rewarding expereince that any parent can relate to – sharing quality reading time is truly one of the most pleasurable moments of the day.