Four Thoughts About the Bestselling Books of 2018
Publishers Weekly recently released data on the best selling books of last year. Here are a few things that stood out to me.
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Only one book in 2018 sold more copies than The Wonky Donkey.
Congratulations to Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown, you were the only book that managed to best the Scottish granny:
This viral read-aloud moved nearly a million copies. I wonder how many people tried to read it with a Scottish accent after they bought it.
Wonder dethroned.
Wonder dropped from #1 in the hardcover backlist bestsellers (it’s still riding high at #4 though).
People like stories they can read in 5 minutes.
5-Minute Mickey Mouse Stories, 5-Minute Princess Stories, 5-Minute Pete the Cat Stories, Disney 5-Minute Snuggle Stories, and Fancy Nancy: 5-Minute Fancy Nancy Stories were all among the top sellers of 2018.
MILLION DOLLAR IDEAS
- Stories you can read in one minute.
- Stories that are just one illustration and when you show it to a kid they say “Got it.”
Non-illustrated middle grade is hard to find.
The true unicorns of this list are non-illustrated middle grade fiction books. While illustrated books like Wimpy Kid, Dog Man, and Dork Diaries are all hanging out near the top, non-illustrated middle grade fiction was scarce (aside from Wonder).
What jumped out to you?
Filed under: Articles
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.
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Sharon Verbeten says
Graphic novel memoir seems to be a growing trend…who will be the next Telgemeier or Brogol?
Sharon Verbeten says
Brosgol, sorry! 🙂