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If you read in English, chances are that there are some countries that will take up most of your reading. Only 2-4% of books published in English are translated, and even books published in English in countries other than the US and the UK are often not received and published in the same way as US works.
This is even more pronounced in children’s books, where the same books top the charts year after year. Parents tend to buy and read to their children the same books that their parents bought and read to them. However, if you want to move forward and discover children’s books that have been published around the world, this is a great place to start!
TheToyZone has compiled the most popular children’s books from every country and wrapped them in these beautiful graphics. You can scroll down to the bottom of each selection for an interactive spreadsheet!
To do this, they first looked at the top 20 children’s books published by authors from each country (based on the number of Goodreads user ratings) and then selected the book with the highest average rating.
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Under each continent I have listed the books available in English, but the full list can be found at the end of the post.
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North America
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As a Canadian, Love You Forever is no surprise, but I didn’t expect Wonder to take first place for the US!
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Most popular children’s books in North America available in English
Note: Junot Diaz was removed from this list on allegations of sexual misconduct.
South America
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The most popular children’s book on the continent is Chiles Papelucho by Marcela Paz with 111 Goodreads ratings, unfortunately there is no English translation!
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Most popular children’s books in South America available in English
Europe
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If you haven’t checked out Frances Press Here, it’s a fun interactive picture book that has inspired many other picture books in the same style!
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Most popular children’s books in Europe available in English
Note: Harry Potter has been removed from this list because of JK Rowling’s transphobic comments.
Africa
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Okay, “every country” was exaggerating: there is not enough information for some countries, especially – as you can see – Africa.
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Most popular children’s books in Africa available in English
The Middle East and Central Asia
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Unfortunately, not many of them have been translated into English, which just goes to show how little has hit the US market from around the world: even many of the most popular books have never been translated. Still, you can show the demand for these books by buying the ones that are available!
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Most popular children’s books in the Middle East and Central Asia available in English
The rest of Asia and Oceania
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If the idea of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Ice Capades meets Mean Girls, then you must check out Taiwan’s Peasprout Chen series about a martial art figure skating student!
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Most popular children’s books in the rest of Asia and Oceania available in English
Would you like to see all the books at once? Play with this interactive table! You can sort by release date, rating, country, and more!
Thanks to TheToyZone for all of these pictures and research!
