THE PRINCESS AND THE PIG is my most borrowed book from UK libraries

The Princess and the Pig
was my most borrowed book

I recently received last year's UK library loans figures for my books, courtesy of the Public Lending Right (PLR) organisation.

There's been quite a shakeup among my most borrowed books, with three books appearing in the top 5 for the first time, including The Princess and the Pig, which knocked last year's most borrowed book Bringing Down the Moon, off the top spot.

My latest Mole and Friends picture book, A Secret Worth Sharing and piratical picture book, The Treasure of Captain Claw, also made it into the top 5 for the first time.

The PLR figures show that my books were borrowed from UK libraries a total of 208,308 times last year, slightly up from 204,491 loans the previous year.

Here are my top 5 most borrowed books.

Position	Book Title	Nº of Loans
1	The Princess and the Pig	17,330	↑
2	Bringing Down the Moon	14,922	↓
3	A Secret Worth Sharing	13,868	↑
4	The Treasure of Captain Claw	13,388	↑
5	The Pig’s Knickers	13,183	↓

  

The PLR organisation also publishes a list of the UK's Most Borrowed Authors and I've crept up 9 places in this to 171st place. The top 3 remain the same this year with US crime writer James Patterson in first place,  "Daisy Meadows" (the pseudonym used by a collection of authors who write the Rainbow Magic series) in second place and Julia Donaldson in third.

BRINGING DOWN THE MOON tops my library loans chart!

Bringing Down the Moon
is my most borrowed book

I've just received last year's UK library loans figures for my books, courtesy of the Public Lending Right (PLR) organisation.

I'm always interested to see which of my books are most popular in libraries and the loans figures are often surprisingly different from my sales figures.

For the last seven years my kite-flying picture book Someone Bigger has topped my loans chart by a considerable margin, but it's finally been knocked off the top spot by the first Mole and Friends picture book, Bringing Down the Moon. 

Farmyard frolic, The Pig's Knickers makes its first appearance in the top 5 at number 3, but a surprising new entry at number 5 is Monsters: An Owners Guide. This book came out in 2010 but went out of print less than two years later due to low sales.  However it's obviously been far more popular in libraries.

Out of print picture book
Monsters: An Owner's Guide is a
surprise entry in the top 5

Here are my top 5 most borrowed books.

Position	Book Title	Nº of Loans
1	Bringing Down the Moon	20,013	↑
2	Someone Bigger	17,070	↓
3	The Pig’s Knickers	13,449	↑
4	Diamond in the Snow	12,419	↓
5	Monsters: An Owner’s Guide	12,051	↑

  

The PLR organisation also publishes a list of the UK's Most Borrowed Authors and I've crept up another 12 places in this to 180th place. The most borrowed author was once again US crime writer James Patterson, with children's "author" Daisy Meadows in second place again. "Daisy Meadows" is the pseudonym used by a collection of authors who write the Rainbow Magic series, so the highest ranking individual children's author was picture book maestro Julia Donaldson in third place.

4th US award nomination for The Princess and the Pig!

I've known since last year that The Princess and the Pig, one of the picture books I've done with illustrator Poly Bernatene, is shortlisted for three different book awards in the US states of North Carolina, Washington and Maryland. The winners for these will be announced in the next couple of months. And now I've just been told that the book has also been shortlisted for the Georgia Children's Book Awards 2013-2014, the winners of which will be announced next year.

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UPDATE 4/1/14:
I'm delighted to announce that Monsters: An Owners Guide is now BACK IN PRINT in a Let's Read mini-paperback edition.

SOMEONE BIGGER tops my UK library loans chart again

For the seventh year running my kite-flying picture book Someone Bigger was my most borrowed book from UK libraries last year. However the huge lead it previously had over my other books dwindled from around 10,000 to a mere 1,458 loans.

My five most borrowed books are shown below.

Book Title	Nº of Loans
Someone Bigger	18,600
Bringing Down the Moon	17,142
Diamond in the Snow	12,399
I Love You Always and Forever	11,753
Pigs Might Fly	11,471

After dropping a few places the previous year, I've crept back up the Most Borrowed Authors Chart to a giddy 192nd place.  The most borrowed author was US crime writer James Patterson, with children's "author" Daisy Meadows in second place.  "Daisy Meadows" is the pseudonym used by a collection of authors who write the Rainbow Magic series, so the highest ranking individual children's authors were Jacqueline Wilson and Francesca Simon, who took fourth and fifth place behind US romantic novelist Nora Roberts.