So, I googled a question the other day out of mild curiosity: What are the top-selling children’s books of all time?
Not surprisingly, there were numerous and varied answers. Who could ever keep track of statistics such as these, really? And what qualifies as a children’s book, anyway? I found the lists interesting, though, so…here’s a few of them for any other mildly-curious readers out there…
According to Publisher’s Weekly, as of the end of the year 2000, the top ten best selling children’s hardcover books were:
The Poky Little Puppy
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Tootle
Green Eggs and Ham
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Pat the Bunny
Saggy Baggy Elephant
Scuffy the Tugboat
The Cat in the Hat
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The web-site How Stuff Works combines paperbacks and hardcovers to come up with this list:
The Poky Little Puppy
Charlotte’s Web
The Outsiders
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Tootle
Green Eggs and Ham
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Pat the Bunny
Saggy, Baggy Elephant
Scuffy the Tugboat
Aaaand…the folks at Brainz web-site came up with this list…featuring quite a different selection of titles:
orange marmalade 
Have you seen any illustrated versions of Anne of Green Gables that are worth obtaining? I’m reading the original aloud to my 8yo daughter and she keeps asking if there are any pictures. I’m thinking the vocabulary is just too much for her, but I thought maybe a well-done picture book might help us keep going. If not, I think we’ll wait a couple years and come back to it.
Anne of Green Gables is one of those books that does tend to surprise us with its sophisticated vocabulary. I know of two titles you could give a try. One came out just this year. It’s called Anne Arrives, adapted by Kallie George, illustrated by Abigail Halpin. It is just the first installment in what will be a series of books to cover the entire novel. Thus it only takes you up to the point that Marilla decides to keep Anne. The next segment, Anne’s Kindred Spirits, is due out in May 2019. For your daughter who is hoping for pictures, this would definitely satisfy. Abigail Halpin has done really lovely illustration work and Kallie George will have done a sweet job of telling the story — I haven’t read it. Then you could just wait for the next installment, move on to some other things, and eventually she’ll be old enough to tackle the original. If you want to try an abridged version of the whole novel, you might try the Classic Starts series by Sterling Publishers. They have one retold by Kathleen Olmstead. It seems to be geared to kids reading it by themselves — larger font, wider spacing, black-and-white pencil illustrations. I have not read it so I can’t really comment on how well it’s been done.
Thanks so much!
I just wanted to check back in with you to say that my library purchased Anne Arrives when I requested it, and it is darling! Also, I just heard of a graphic novel adapted by Mariah Marsden and illustrated by Brenna Thummler in 2017, and I’ve requested that the library purchase it as well. My daughter previewed it on the Hoopla app from my hometown library while I was reading Anne aloud tonight, but I’m hopeful my local library will purchase the hard copy. It’s so much nicer to hold a real book in your hands!
Yay! The next volume in the Anne Arrives set is coming out in May — Anne’s Kindred Spirits 🙂 I have read that graphic novel version. It’s quite good. And yes, especially for a graphic novel where the layout of the pages is part of how they tell the story, a hard copy would be great. Happy reading to you both!