4 Observations About the Best-Selling Children’s Books of 2011

I just read the USA TODAY list of the 100 Best-Selling Books of 2011. If you enter “youth” into the search box, you can just view the children’s and YA entries. A few things I noticed…

1. Wimpy Kid Trumps Steve Jobs
While all three books of The Hunger Games trilogy sold more than Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs: A Biography, they had an entire year of sales to do it. What really shocked me is that the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Cabin Fever, also outsold the Jobs bio – and it was released a full three weeks later (Steve Jobs: Oct. 24, Cabin Fever: Nov. 15).

2. Series Reign
Among the youth titles on the top 100 list, not a one is a stand-alone.

3. Realism Takes a Back Seat
Other than books in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, all the other best selling youth titles are fantasy, sci-fi, or (the genre I get the biggest kick out of saying) paranormal romance. No other realistic fiction or nonfiction to be seen.

4. The Last Potter and Twilight Sightings?
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (#98) is the lone Potter sighting on this list – a surprise to me. Breaking Dawn (#38) is the only Twilight entry. With the book series and films for both all wrapped up, is this the last we’ll see of them on the top 100? One thing that could have me eating my words on the HP front is the release of Potter e-books. That would likely result in another explosion in sales.

(Image: ‘100‘ http://www.flickr.com/photos/49968232@N00/5979655704)

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