Most borrowed authors from UK public libraries, 2005-06

[wellinghall]

1. Jacqueline Wilson C
2. James Patterson A
3. Josephine Cox A
4. Danielle Steel A
5. Ian Rankin A
6. Janet & Allan Ahlberg C
7. Mick Inkpen C
8. Roald Dahl C
9. John Grisham A
10. Nora Roberts A



1. James Patterson
2. Josephine Cox
3. Danielle Steel
4. Ian Rankin
5. John Grisham
6. Nora Roberts
7. Agatha Christie
8. Bernard Cornwell
9. Katie Flynn
10. Patricia Cornwell

I am familiar with two of these authors, and have read a couple of books by two others.



1. Jacqueline Wilson
2. Janet & Allan Ahlberg
3. Mick Inkpen
4. Roald Dahl
5. Lucy Cousins
6. Lucy Daniels
7. Eric Hill
8. Enid Blyton
9. Francesca Simon
10. Nick Butterworth

I am familiar with two of these authors.



1. Roald Dahl
2. Agatha Christie
3. Georgette Heyer
4. C S Lewis
5. Beatrix Potter
6. Charles Dickens
7. Jane Austen
8. J R R Tolkien
9. William Shakespeare
10. A A Milne

I am familiar with six of these authors.

Published by Public Lending Right, Richard House, Sorbonne Close, Stockton-on-Tees TS17 6DA, www.plr.uk.com

Comments

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

Nice to see that somebody (other than us, of course) is acknowledging Tolkien as a classic author. Just a shame that people seem to think that Dickens is more appealing. Blegh!

[chainmailmaiden]

Janet & Allan Ahlberg wrote one of my all time favourite books, 'Each, Peach, Pear, Plum.' I borrowed it from the library very frequently when I was a child and I still love to read it, it's just such a lovely book :-)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

When you say you are familiar with them, how does this differ from having read some of their books?

[tree_and_leaf]

Jaqueline Wilson gives me the creeps, but her books do seem to be very popular with reluctant readers, so I suppose there's something to be said for her.

I think I may once have read a children's story which featured an unpleasant character who wore lots of rings, as I find this habit of hers particularly off-putting - and that's certainly not a logical reaction.

(Unless I'm thinking of Umbridge. But I don't think so.)

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Some of those children's authors are creators of popular pre-school picture book characters - Kipper (Mick Inkpen), Percy the Park-Keeper (Nick Butterworth), Maisy Mouse (Lucy Cousins), Spot the Dog (Eric Hill) - so I wouldn't have expected you to have heard of them. Francesca Simon does the immensely popular Horrid Henry series - one of the few books that have huge appeal to 7 year old boys. (Publishing for 7 year olds is horribly girl-centred and overflowing with fairies and princesses, which is very annoying.)

Lucy Daniels, however, doesn't exist. "She" is a consortium who churns out animal stories, using a name carefully chosen to put the books next to Roald Dahl on the shelves.

JK Rowling probably doesn't feature partly because lots of people buy the books, but mostly because she only has 7 titles, as opposed to the 30 plus that most of these authors have. Plus, her books are long, so people tend to renew them and keep them for ages. Pre-school books issue really well, because people swap them much more frequently than they do older fiction.

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

I am familiar with one and a bit of the 'adult' authors. I am becoming a lot more familiar than I was with many of the 'children's' authors ;-) Unsurprisingly, however, I am most familiar with every single one of the 'classic' authors.

[psychostace.livejournal.com]

Where is George Orwell?!! ;)

I love Bernard Cornwell books but am surprised he's so popular!