It turns out that our young readers love Kiwi authors.
Whitcoulls on Monday released its list of top 50 children's books for the year, with local authors featuring heavily in the favourites.
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Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy came in at number two on the list, showing the staying power of the classic Kiwi story.
Whitcoulls book manager Joan Mackenzie says the fact that the iconic book remains popular today is amazing.
"It's so many years now since Hairy was first published that it shows you the strength of it through several generations. It hasn't only endured, it's endured at the top - it's amazing," she says.
Hairy Maclary was topped only by the hugely popular Harry Potter series.
In all, 12 books in the top 50 were penned by Kiwi writers, which Mackenzie says is a much higher proportion than the bookstore sees in its top 100 list for adult readers.
"[That] is a real reflection of the need for Kiwi kids to be able to recognise themselves and their own environment in the books they read," says Mackenzie.
Other homegrown authors include James Russell, Donovan Bixley and Kimberly Andrews.
"Kimberly Andrews did a beautiful book called Puffin the Architect, about a mother who's an architect and she wants to design a new house for her kids and she makes all sorts of suggestions to them."
Mackenzie says around 20 percent of the titles change every list and this year is no exception.
"Titles like Goodnight Stories For Rebel Girls became a bit of a phenomenon last year and there were several books published along that sort of theme and they've disappeared this year and we're back to good old narrative stories."
Newshub.
