The New York Times Book Review to Debut Children's Bestseller List

Posted on July 7, 2000

The New York Times Book Review will debut a separate best-seller list for children's books starting July 23. The list, which will have 15 slots, will mix together all categories of children's hardcover books, including fiction and nonfiction, picture and chapter books. It joins the Book Review's current best-seller lists for fiction, non-fiction, ``advice, how-to and miscellaneous'' and separate lists for paperbacks in those categories. The New York Times Bestseller list began in 1935.

``The sales and popularity of children's books can rival and, in the case of the Harry Potter books, even exceed those of adult books,'' says Charles McGrath, the editor of the Book Review, which appears every Sunday in The New York Times. ``With a separate children's list we can more fully represent what people are reading, and we can clear more room on the adult list for adult books.'' One or more of the three books in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series have commanded spots on the adult fiction bestseller list for 81 weeks to date.

``The Times bestseller list gives the books on it a great deal of visibility,'' says Mike Kagay, The Times's news surveys editor. ``Many consider the list an important measure of a book's success. With a list devoted to children's books we can spotlight what's new and exciting in the children's market.''

The children's list will be derived from the same sources as the adult list, including a sample drawn from 4,000 bookstores and wholesalers that sell to some 50,000 outlets including gift shops and department stores nationwide. Sales from children's bookstores will also soon be factored into the rankings. The bestseller list pages in the Book Review will be redesigned. The new children's list will take the place of the ``advice and how-to'' hardcover list below the adult hardcover list. ``Advice and how-to'' will move to the paperback bestseller page.