May 1, 2013
We release over 200 quizzes each month, prioritising those titles that have been requested the most by schools. In addition to the monthly list of new quizzes, we will be using the Quiz Blog to highlight some of the most popular recently-quizzed titles so you can see which books have been most popular with children. This month, the many of the most popular books have been the World Book Day special editions and the books shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
World Book Day
Unsurprisingly, amongst the very top titles for March were the special World Book Day editions sold for £1 or exchanged for book tokens given to millions of children. As we indicated recently, the most popular of these by far was Tom Gates: Best Book Day Ever! (so far) by Liz Pichon (Quiz # 223985). Also very popular were Horrid Henry’s Guide to Perfect Parents by Francesca Simon (Quiz # 223983) and Bittersweet by Cathy Cassidy (Quiz # 223981). Visit our World Book Day page for full details of all these titles.
Carnegie Shortlist
The second most popular title from our March releases has been The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan (Quiz # 223572). The Weight of Water is a coming-of-age story about Kasienka and her mother, Polish immigrants to England. The story is told through poetry, and the innovative style of storytelling has won excellent reviews for the book, including a place on the Carnegie shortlist.
Also very popular this month has been Marcus Sedgewick’s Midwinterblood (Quiz # 223978). Seven short vignettes set on a Scandinavian island tell stories of Vikings, vampires, ghosts, and a curiously powerful plant.
You may have missed…
One little series for younger readers that we really enjoyed quizzing was Dinosaur Friends by Jack Hughes. These four books follow a group of young dinosaurs with illnesses or disabilities. Rex struggles to see without his glasses and his friends have to help him when he goes out without them on. Emmy has eczema and her mum has run out of her special cream, but her friends come together to help her out. Steggie has a stammer, but her friends learn that she’s got something important to say. Dachy needs his hearing aid to hear what people are saying, and finds himself in trouble when he turns it off.
These brightly-illustrated books will teach young readers the importance of valuing their friends for who they are despite their differences – and they’ll be gripped by the adventures of the dinosaur friends along the way. The books are: Steggie’s Stammer (Quiz # 223467); Rex’s Specs (Quiz # 223466); Dachy’s Deaf (Quiz # 223464); and Emmy’s Eczema (Quiz # 223465).