SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • *Best New Books*
    • Annual Best Lists
  • Reviews
    • One Star Review
    • Nonfiction
    • Toon Reviews
  • Articles
    • Authors
    • Link Du Jour
  • Covers
    • Covering the Newbery
    • Cover Curiosity
    • Unfortunate Covers
  • News
    • Books on Film
    • Morning Notes
  • Newsletter

June 19, 2012 by Travis Jonker

Top 10 Circulated Books 2012: 3rd-4th Grade

June 19, 2012 by Travis Jonker   9 comments

The end of the school year is a crazy time, I tell you. All of a sudden, things that would never appear in a teacher’s lounge at any other time, things like this…

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

…all of a sudden show up.

But I’d like to focus on a non-slushie order of business today – popular books. I’ve combed through statistics to find out which books were the most popular of the 2011-12 campaign. Here they are for my 3rd and 4th grade school, in all their countdown glory.

10. Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons : a Calvin and Hobbes Collection by Bill Watterson

Love it that this snuck on the list. It was unexpected for me – I knew Calvin and Hobbes still went out a lot, but I underestimated the overall circulations. I’m updating our C & H offerings next year to meet demand.

9. Bad Kitty Meets the Baby by Nick Bruel

There have been rumblings for a while, but this is the year Bad Kitty ascended to the top echelon of our checkout ranks. I don’t think we can have enough of these.

8. Dogs for Kids! Everything You Need to Know About Dogs by Kristin Mehus-Roe

If you don’t have this in your library, I highly recommend it. While I like to maintain a strict “no pets” policy at home, I’m all for feeding student demand at school.

7. Guinness World Records 2012

You knew it was coming, right? High interest hall of fame material.

6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney

Our first Wimpy Kid sighting. Jeff Kinney’s series has been as popular as ever. It’s odd to actually see one on the shelf.

5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney

Our second Wimpy Kid sighting.

4. Adventures in Cartooning by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, Alexis Frederick-Frost

This was a surprise. I’d seen kids coming in and asking for this book by name this year, which had never happened before, but I didn’t expect it to beat out the other books on this list to land at #4. This junior guide to comics deserves all the attention it’s getting.

3. A Bad Kitty Christmas by Nick Bruel

Bad Kitty returns to the list at the not-to-shabby #3 slot. This is one of the picture book offerings, so I was slightly surprised to see that it was checked out to more students than the chapter books. Note to self: stock up on Bad Kitty for 2012-13.

2. Guinness World Records 2011

Remember the olden days when the only Guinness was that insanely thick black and white number? And kids read the bejesus out of that. Adding color and appealing design has turned something popular into something that circulates nonstop.

1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney

Look, folks – this is the way it goes – the most recent Wimpy Kid that has an entire school year to circulate (as opposed to the latest book, Cabin Fever, which came out in November) takes the top slot. That’s how things work.

I’ll be sharing the top of the top for my other schools in the near future.

Filed under: Articles, Best of

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

December 2020

2021 Caldecott Medal Predictions

by Travis Jonker

December 2019

2020 Geisel Award Predictions

by Travis Jonker

December 2019

2020 Caldecott Medal Predictions

by Travis Jonker

December 2018

2018 Librarian Lump of Coal Gift Guide

by Travis Jonker

December 2017

2017 Children's Lit: The Year in Miscellanea

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Sydney Taylor Blog Tour: THE TOWER OF LIFE by Chana Stiefel and Susan Gal

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Abecedarian Movement and Dance: A Q&A with Corinna Luyken About ABC and You and Me!

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Haley Newsome on Unfamiliar | Interview

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Heavy Medal

What’s Coming in 2023, A Feedback Poll, and Goodbye for Now…

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Writing Trans Joy in Spite of Everything, a guest post by Edward Underhill

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

A Book 25 Years in the Making: Marla Frazee Visits The Yarn

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Four Breezy YA Summer Reads for Fans of 'Along for the Ride' on Netflix | Read-Alikes

Four YA Romances for Teens Watching 'The Summer I Turned Pretty'

Sports-Forward Books for Fans of the Movie "Space Jam: A New Legacy" | Read-Alikes

Three Action-Packed Adventures for Fans of 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'

Four Magical Middle Grade Novels for 'Encanto' Fans| Read-Alikes

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Miss K says

    June 19, 2012 at 9:39 am

    I love these posts. They help me decide what to order for my classroom library.

  2. Stacey says

    June 20, 2012 at 8:06 am

    Wow! This really reminds me that what I love is not necessarily what kids want… A good thing to remember.

  3. Tina says

    June 21, 2012 at 10:23 pm

    This Top 10 list doesn’t surprise me, but they aren’t ones I would pick at all! Shows how different kids taste can be from adults.

  4. Jennifer Wright says

    June 22, 2012 at 7:51 pm

    Interesting trend! Looks like an attention span/fluency issue is going on. Those books were also red-hot in my classroom. I actually had to put my World Record books in a closed cabinet because kids fought over them! Enjoyed your blog today and will return for more!

  5. Amy says

    June 29, 2012 at 8:29 am

    My son loves Adventures in Cartooning! I didn’t know that others had heard of this book. It’s great!

  6. Matt Mesnard says

    July 20, 2012 at 3:15 pm

    Not to say I’m *that* old, but our elementary school didn’t seem to even have back-to-back years of the Guinness Book. I remember the days of the black-and-white versions also. If I recall, we couldn’t even check those out.

    Many library visits had far tables broken up due to rowdiness, resulting in that book being taken away.

    • Travis says

      July 20, 2012 at 3:21 pm

      Ha- I’m glad that things seem to be changing toward letting the guinness books circulate. They still cause rowdiness though.

  7. James Stu says

    September 18, 2012 at 6:43 pm

    As one of the authors of Adventures in Cartooning I was thrilled to see our book hanging out with such well circulated company! Thanks for posting.

    • James Sturm says

      September 18, 2012 at 6:44 pm

      Ooops. Still learning to spell my name!

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • Author/Illustrator Blogs

    • Erin Stead Illustration
    • Hey, Rabbit!
    • James Preller's Blog
    • MATTHEWCORDELLBLOGS
    • Mo Willems Doodles
    • The Scop
  • Book Blogs I Like

    • A Book and a Hug
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • A Kids Book a Day
    • A Year of Reading
    • Abby (the) Librarian
    • Awful Library Books
    • Becky’s Book Reviews
    • Better Book Titles
    • Book-A-Day Almanac
    • Bookends
    • books4yourkids.com
    • bookshelves of doom
    • Bottom Shelf Books
    • Calling Caldecott
    • Caustic Cover Critic
    • Chad C. Beckerman
    • Charlotte’s Library
    • Cheryl Rainfield
    • Chicken Spaghetti
    • CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATION
    • Collecting Children’s Books
    • Cybils
    • EarlyWord
    • educating alice
    • Finding Wonderland
    • For Those About to Mock
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Good Show Sir
    • GottaBook
    • Great Kid Books
    • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
    • Hi Miss Julie!
    • Jen Robinson’s Book Page
    • Kidsmomo
    • Maria T. Middleton Design
    • Nerdy Book Club
    • Neverending Search
    • Nine Kinds of Pie
    • One Book, Two Books, Old Books, New Books
    • Out of the Box
    • Oz and Ends
    • PlanetEsme
    • Read Roger
    • Reading Rants!
    • Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
    • sharpread
    • ShelfTalker
    • so tomorrow
    • The Children's Book Review
    • The Miss Rumphius Effect
    • Uncovered Cover Art
    • Waking Brain Cells
    • Watch. Connect. Read.
  • Library Blogs

    • ALSC Blog
    • Blue Skunk Blog
    • librarian.net
    • LISNews
    • Stephen's Lighthouse
    • Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology
    • Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology
    • Unshelved
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2023


    COPYRIGHT © 2023