Last week, more than 80 librarians from 71 towns across New Hampshire and Vermont gathered at the Briggs Opera House and Hotel Coolidge in White River Junction, VT for CLiF’s semi-annual Rural Libraries Conference. It was a packed day of panels, workshops, and exciting prizes like a storytelling presentation by popular CLiF presenter Simon Brooks. Attendees could also enter a raffle for a new collection of children’s books by submitting what books are “hot” at their library right now.
Wondering what is flying off the library’s shelves? Here is what is HOT in VT and NH rural public libraries.
Anything by Raina Telgemeier – “Graphic novels are big!”
“Babysitter’s Club popular because it is a series.” (8 other libraries agreed!)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series – “Always popular” (8 other libraries agreed!)
Wonder – “They all think it is well written and they relate to the characters.” (4 other libraries agreed!)
Dog Man – “When kids come over after school, they are looking for a quick read that makes them laugh (and a book that other kids are reading.) (3 other libraries agreed!)
Elephant and Piggie – “We never had them before our CliF grant!” (2 other libraries agreed!)
Rick Riordan‘s 3 big series: Kane Chronicles, Lightning Thief, and Norse titles – “The older kids are craving snappy adventures featuring kids in their age range!” (2 other libraries agreed!)
Dragons Eat Tacos – “The kids love it and want to take that book out again and again.” (2 other libraries agreed!)
Big Nate series (2 other libraries agreed!)
Anything by Erin Hunter – “Kids at my library seem to gravitate to series books, familiarity.” (2 other libraries agreed!)
Minecraft Essential Handbook – “They can’t seem to get enough Minecraft – anything related is hot.”(2 other libraries agreed!)
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?
“Current Dorothy Canfield Fisher books are very hot, because we create a special display and encourage kids in that direction.”
Roald Dahl – “Classic! requested by adults and kids.”
Otto the Book Bear, Meet the Dullards, Wonder, and Winnie – “many reasons, movies on the way.”
Nate the Great and Diary of a Wimpy Kid – “Children just like the format and have challenges among themselves to read all of them.”
Captain Underpants – “They love the humor and the title.”
Fancy Nancy – “The girls love the dress-up aspect of Fancy Nancy books.”
Princess in Black series – “The girls love seeing a female superhero!”
Little Excavator for 3-4 year olds
Pop Ups!
Herve Tullet books – “Kids love the interactive feel to the picture books.”
Wings of Fire series – “I guess kids like dragons.”
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Wilems – “Kids love hearing adults read this one aloud – they can’t help being animated. Also can’t relate to a special stuffed companion?”
Pete the Cat – “Pete is groovy!”
Frog and Toad – “A classic that is never old!”
Pokemon Manga Collection – “Struggling Readers build confidence.”
Splat the Cat – “The illustrations are great and the kid love the stories.”
Amulet series
The Kissing Hand – “A timeless classic, the start of the school year, of course!”
Awkward by Svetlana Chmahova – “Graphic novels are hot in out library – one reason for this is access. The school library (elementary level) doesn’t have a collection but the kids love them!”
The Lucy and Andy Neanderthal books – “They’re funny, and graphic novels are appealing to all grade levels.”
The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brailler – “Kids are aware that zombies are popular right now, and this book lets them be part of this trend in a kid friendly way.”
Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great – “because – UNICORNS.”
Real Friends – “It speaks to girls dealing with girl drama. This is always girl drama and it is a graphic novel.”
They All Saw A Cat – “Fun, amazing illustrations. Children enjoy looking at the world through other eyes.”
Babymouse – “Kids love the character.”
Stick Dog by Tom Watson – “If a kid likes Diary of a Wimpy Ki, this is another series they are drawn to – with funny written story plus cartoons.”
Red, A Crayon’s Story – “Because I put it in patrons hands – LOL.”
Pinkalicious – “It’s PINK.”
Build It! – “There is a huge interest in legos.”
Great list!
One of my two favourite ‘giveaway books, which I don’t see here, are: “The Secret Message’ by Mina Javaherbin, a very funny story, and “Journey” by Aaron Becker, which is a wordless book and has a cameo of Harold (in h’s tweens) and his purple crayon!
Thanks, Simon!