Kiwi kids’ enthusiasm for books
knows no bounds, with Whitcoulls receiving more than 16,000 votes for their Top
50 books in 2015. Their appetite for books, often at expense of digital
alternatives, is consistent with the sales Whitcoulls record daily across their
54 stores nationwide.
The overall pattern emerging is that
kids find an author they really love, and remain loyal to that author until
they progress to the next quality book or series, which they are incredibly diligent
about hunting out. They also maintain an active reading programme, which they
prioritise amongst the many other demands on their time.
Fiction reigns supreme with Kiwi
kids with no non-fiction books making the cut in this year’s Top 50. Twenty
percent of the books that appear on the list are newcomers, with fantasy novels
such as Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games
trilogy (number 11) and Veronica Roth’s Divergent
series of books (number 17) still proving popular with voters. Famous writers,
novels set in fantasy worlds and classic stories where humour is a feature,
gained the most votes in the Top 50 books this year.
Ousting J.K. Rowling’s
mega-bestselling Harry Potter series
from the number one spot this year is Australian writer Andy Griffiths, with
his relatively new Treehouse series. Rowling
falls to second place and Lynley Dodd comes third with her perennially popular Hairy Maclary series.
Many of the books that feature in
the top ten are illustrated books by classic, bestselling writers, including
Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things
Are (number five); Roald Dahl’s Matilda
(number six); Eric Carle’s The Very
Hungry Caterpillar (number seven) and Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Gruffalo (number nine). Also making
an appearance in the top ten at number eight is New Zealand book Baa Baa Smart Sheep by Mark and Rowan
Sommerset.
One major newcomer is Girl Online by YouTube phenomenon Zoe
Sugg, aka Zoella. Sugg was the first major YouTube vlogger to have her book
published and both Girl Online and a
number of recently published ‘copycat’ titles have gained favour, eliciting
votes, from Whitcoulls teenage customers.
Whitcoulls Book Manager Joan
Mackenzie believes that Kiwi kids are reading more than ever and favour print
books over electronic versions. Mackenzie said that she is “personally pleased
to see Louis Sachar’s book Holes find its way back into the Top 50,
after going missing in action last year. It’s one of the all-time greats and I
am relieved to see it has found favour again.” Holes won the 1998 US National Book Award for Young People’s
Literature and was later made into a film by Disney.
Mackenzie said how delighted she
was to see ten new books make their way into the Top 50. “The Day the
Crayons Quit is a huge favourite with Whitcoulls staff. The venerable David
Walliams, who is carving out a second career as a children’s author, has two
books in the Top 50 this year (Awful Auntie and Gangsta Granny),
both written in the style of Roald Dahl. John Green’s popularity continues with
Paper Towns (now a major film) and two wonderful picture books which, whilst
not new, are still very much in favour with voters – Dr Seuss’s Oh, The
Places You’ll Go! (48) and Giraffes Can’t Dance (50) by Giles
Andreae,” said Mackenzie.
Whitcoulls asked Kiwi kids to vote for up to three books
and everyone who voted was in with a chance to win one of 20 Whitcoulls Gift
Cards valued at $100. Whitcoulls has been compiling their list of Kids’ Top 50 Books for
the past 17 years.
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