Did you know that February is Library Lover’s Month?  Well, you know from this post that we love the library and we love our librarians! In honor of this occasion we’ve polled some of our favorite librarians and asked them to give us the top ten most requested books in their libraries.

There is no better way to supplement our own reviews than to hear, direct from the trenches, what books are most popular with young readers.

In this post, we’ll start with what the younger kids are reading (ages 9-12).

Here’s what our librarian friends had to say.

Betsy Bird

Elizabeth Bird is a children’s librarian at the Children’s Center at 42nd Street of the New York Public Library system. She has served on Newbery committee and written for Horn Book. Betsy’s kids in the 9-12 age range are into series, and here is what she says are their favorites.

10. The Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine

9.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

8. The Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan

7. The Big Nate series by Lincoln Peirce

6. The Dork Diaries series by Rachel Renee Russell

5. The Warriors series by Erin Hunter

4. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

3. The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

2. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

1. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney

For more from this librarian-extraordinaire, visit her blog. She always has something interesting going on!

John Schu

As an elementary school librarian (K-5), John knows what books are hot with the younger kids. Here are the books that are most popular with his 3-5^th graders:

10. Warriors: Omen of the Stars #3: Night Whispers by Erin Hunter

9. Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee

8. Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

7. The Genius Files by Dan Gutman

6. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

5. DC Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book by Matthew Reinhart

4. Big Nate: From the Top by Lincoln Peirce

3. Amulet: The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi

2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney

1. Big Nate Strikes Again by Lincoln Peirce

For more from John on book video trailers and some knowledgeable book chat, check out his blog.

Why am I not surprised that Big Nate and Diary of a Wimpy Kid are in first place? They are certainly favorites in my house! I am glad to see the Lunch Lady series on John’s list, as this has been a favorite in my house for a year now, but I haven’t seen many other kids reading it.

Parents and teachers, if these books are hits in their libraries, then they are sure to be hits with your kids, too. Next time you are at the library or bookstore, you might want to bring this list of kid-approved books with you!

Thanks to our Betsy and John for sharing their knowledge from the trenches with us. And check it out – this post is all about what’s hot with the middle school and high school crowd.

-Shannon, StorySnoop

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 13th, 2011 at 8:55 PM and is filed under Announcements, Books for Boys, Books for Girls, Books for Younger Readers, Library Lover's Month, Shannon - StorySnoop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.