USA Today’s list of the top selling books of the century has been released, and the results are not surprising. Wizards and vampires stole 9 out of 10 of the top spots, with “The Da Vinci Code” the lone black sheep in spot number 2.
- Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
- The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
- New Moon, Stephenie Meyer
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
- Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
- Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre
These books, “The Da Vinci Code” excluded depending on your child’s age, who’s primary demographic is kids, had extraordinary crossover appeal. Full of mystery, intrigue, mythical and mystical creatures and love stories, there was a little something extra for adults, too.
J.K Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” series, which follows a boy wizard and his friends through adventures at his school for wizards, was a best seller before the calendar hit 2000, but the 2007 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, sold a record 8.3 million copies sold in a day, much due to the wild speculation Harry dies in the final book.
2007 was a big year for literature, as Mormon stay-at-home mom, Stephenie Meier dominated the best seller list with her Twilight Saga about a love triangle between a mortal girl, her vampire love and werewolf friend. In 2009 alone, she sold 22 million books.
Rowling and Meier’s sales had a big boost from Hollywood’s film industry, with all of the Potter and Twilight books to be released in theaters as full length feature movies. The unimaginable popularity of the Twilight books that struck the world just these past two years has had people that have never heard of the book before snatching up copies by the armload.
The book publishing industry itself, however, took a big dip, mainly because of e-books and digital readers, like Amazon’s wildly popular Kindle. Prices and rights for these publications are in dispute, and delaying the release of e-books to protect print sales is still something that needs to be settled.
It remains to be seen what technology will do with book industry, but we can all agree there is nothing better than curling up on the couch with a great page turner- and the top books for the past decade are great picks you can read right along with your kids.
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