by: Jasper Copping
For generations, they are the books that defined childhood.
But Asterix cartoons, the works of Roald Dahl and even JK Rowling appear to have followed the fate of
authors such as Enid Blyton and Judy Blume and fallen out of favour with younger readers.
An analysis of lending data from British libraries going back almost three decades reveals how children’s reading preferences have evolved, with many fondly-remembered favourites now left on the shelves.
The study involves a comparison of the ten most borrowed children’s books and the ten most borrowed children’s authors each year, as far back as records began, in 1984/85.
Both sets of figures show how authors like Dahl, Blume, Blyton, Rowling and René Goscinny, who, with illustrator Albert Uderzo created the Asterix series, once dominated the charts before falling in popularity.
Blyton, responsible for around 800 books including The Famous Five series, was the most borrowed author for the first three years covered by the survey, before entering a gradual decline, and finally falling out of the top ten in 2008/09.
Dahl, responsible for around 20 children’s works, has seen his once eminent position in the charts fall over the same period, although he remains in the top ten, as the ninth most borrowed author, in 2011/12, the most recent year for which figures are available. Blume, who wrote novels for girls, and Goscinny fell out of the lists in 1989/90 and 1997/98, respectively.
Rowling, who published her first Harry Potter novel in 1997 and only wrote seven books in the series, never made it into the “most borrowed authors” list, but her works did come to dominate the charts for the “most borrowed children’s books”, taking up the top five places in 2000/01 and 2001/02. Since then, though, her presence in that chart has declined, and she dropped out entirely last year.
The new study has been conducted by Public Lending Right, part of the British Library, which monitors data from libraries and collects payments for authors.
It also shows how other children’s series have emerged, bringing periods of dominance for their authors, among them: Jacqueline Wilson (Tracy Beaker), Francesca Simon (Horrid Henry), Daisy Meadows (Rainbow Magic), Lauren Child (Charlie and Lola) and Stephanie Meyer (Twilight). Julia Donaldson, responsible for The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Stick Man, is another who has dominated in recent years.
However, the data shows that some old favourites have endured. Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963, was regularly one of the most borrowed books in the 1980s, before disappearing from the lists.
However, it returned in 2010/2011 - before the death of author, Maurice Sendak, in 2012 - and remained in the top ten last year. We’re Going On A Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen, published in 1989, entered the top ten in the same year.
Mick Inkpen, responsible for Kipper the Dog and Wibbly Pig, has appeared in every top ten “authors” list since 1997/1998, while Allan and Janet Ahlberg, whose books date back to the 1970s and include Burglar Bill, Woof! and the Jolly Postmen, have also fared well. They were in every author list from 1989/90 to 2008/9.
Mr Inkpen said: “My books are written for readers aged about two to six, and that is a tranche that comes round fairly regularly, whereas for someone like Rowling, their books are not going to be re-read.
“My books take all of five minutes to read, so people are going to borrow in volume. And I imagine that once people get hooked into borrowing books, they get hooked into authors. Parents will look out for a particular author.”
Jim Parker, the head of PLR, said: “It is nice that some old names are still knocking around. I remember when Blyton, Bloom and Dahl were the big names. But things change and fashions change. Parents have a lot to do with this and there is a different generation of parents now.
“Some of the works that have endured are those that seem timeless. There are books which could have been written in the 1970s or yesterday and you cannot tell. You can’t say that for all the books.”
from: Telegraph
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