Children's: Festive titles deck the halls in the Pre-School chart

With Halloween over, Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s Funnybones (Puffin) left the Pre-School number one for another year, with Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Gruffalo and Friends Advent Calendar Book Collection (Macmillan Children’s) leapfrogging it for the category top spot.

The Pre-School top 20 effortlessly made the switch from cobweb decorations and carved pumpkins to twinkling lights and pine needles, as Donaldson’s What the Ladybird Heard at Christmas (Macmillan Children’s), illustrated by Lydia Monks, and Tom Fletcher and Shane Devries’ The Christmasaurus (Puffin) jingled up the charts. Rod Campbell’s Dear Santa (Macmillan Children’s), Michael Bond’s Paddington’s Christmas Post (HarperCollins) and the Ahlbergs’ The Jolly Christmas Postman (Puffin) returned to the chart.

Jeff Kinney’s Diper Överlöde (Puffin) held the Children’s number one for a second week, with David Walliams and Adam Stower’s Spaceboy (HarperCollins) in the runner-up spot. Margie Fuston’s Young Adult fantasy title Cruel Illusions (Hodder) conjured up third place, as short story collection The Very Merry Murder Club (Farshore) débuted in 18th.