In first place for children... All bow down to the powers of a princess who is not what you might expect. The Princess in Black by Shannon and Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, was easily our childrens' number one. We first fell in love with this book when it came out in 2014, and its publication in paperback this year has clearly boosted its popularity even more. And now there's a sequel - The Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party. Second place goes to Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo - up from last year's sixth place - and third to Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein, a new entry in the charts, but, like Mercy Watson, a book that is popular with both families and schools. Toddlers make their first wishes known at number four, with Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann and reappear at number six with Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox, which was last year's number one. El Deafo was our highest selling graphic novel, and takes number seven overall. And our bestseller for young adult readers, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, only just missed our top ten.

 

Numbers in brackets show places in last year's chart, with a '+' meaning the book is a new entry in our bestseller list.

 

1.  The Princess in Black Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, LeUyen Pham (+)

2.  Mercy Watson to the Rescue Kate DiCamillo (6)

3.  Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library Chris Grabenstein (+)

4.  Good Night, Gorilla Peggy Rathmann (+)

5.  The Cat on the Mat is Flat Andy Griffiths (9)

6.  Where is the Green Sheep? Mem Fox (1)

7.  El Deafo CeCe Bell (+)

8.  Walk Two Moons Sharon Creech (+)

9.  The One and Only Ivan Katherine Applegate (+)

10. Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot Dav Pilkey (+)

 

Mo Willems' adored Elephant and Piggie characters make their first appearance just outside our top 10 with Waiting is Not Easy!, and other titles by Willems appear throughout our top 50. Also just outside the top 10 is Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen and last year's number two - Brainwashed by Paul Aertker.

 

Last year we didn't do a full top 10 for adults, but our number one was local doctor Jules Amer's Intimate Strangers: Stories from a Lifetime of Practicing Medicine, which, while it continued to sell well in 2015, could not keep up with the year's huge sellers. Anthony Doerr's All The Light We Cannot See takes the number one spot with a generous margin. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo has dominated headlines and conversations this year, so it's not a surprise to see it in number two, likewise The Martian, already a Bookies favorite was boosted this year by the movie. Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman breaks into our bestsellers at number eight, and let's take a moment to appreciate number nine - the August to August Calendar 2015 - 2016 - perhaps not inspiring reading, but invaluable to anyone whose life revolves around the school year!

 

1.  All The Light We Cannot See  Anthony Doerr

2.  The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up  Marie Kondo

3.  The Martian  Andy Weir

4.  The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

5.  A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

6.  An Officer and a Spy Robert Harris

7.  The Rosie Project Graeme Simsion

8.  Go Set a Watchman Harper Lee

9.  August to August Calendar 2015 - 2016

10.The Nightingale Kristin Hannah

 

So what were our students learning about this year? It looks like the natural world was top of the list with How Mountains are Made by Kathleen W Zoehfeld, closely followed by Trees to Paper by Lisa M. Herrington. Teachers wanted to know more about preserving individuality in elementary classrooms with Identity Safe Classrooms: Places to Belong and Learn - and crayfish are still in, with last year's number three book, Life Cycle of a Crayfish, in the chart at number five.

 

1. How Mountains are Made Kathleen W. Zoehfeld (+)

2. Trees to Paper Lisa M. Herrington (+)

3. Identity Safe Classrooms: Places to Belong and Learn  Dorothy M. Steele and Becki Cohn-Vargas (+)

4. Silkworm Ron Fridell (+)

5. Life Cycle of a Crayfish Bobbie Kalman (3)

 

When it comes to games and toys, last year's number one is number one again! Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty is the gift that keeps on squishing. This fun putty is a fabulous little gift and we've also learned that some schools allow it in the classroom to hone fine motor skills or for students to use as a coping mechanism. We have a new entry at number two - Three Little Piggies, the enchanting children's logic game that customers - and staff - have fallen in love with. The ever-popular Tenzi dice game is still in our chart at number three, and at four and five, two other new games, Bellz and Gravity Maze, enter our chart.

 

1. Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty (1)

2. Three Little Piggies (+)

3. Tenzi! (2)

4. Bellz (+)

5. Gravity Maze (+)