Children's: Holly Black reigns in the top spot

Holly Black’s The Stolen Heir (Hot Key) was the second-highest new entry in the Top 50, swiping the Children’s number one from Jeff Kinney’s Diper Overlöde (Puffin), with 11,427 copies sold. Jamie Smart’s Bunny vs Monkey: Multiverse Mix-Up! (David Ficking) hopped into fourth place, as Sarah Ann Juckes’ The Night Animals (S&S), illustrated by Sharon King-Chai, hit 20th place.

With the Christmas titles eradicated from the Pre-school and Picture Book chart for another 44 weeks or so, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Smeds and the Smoos (Alison Green) returned to the number one spot, with The Baddies not far behind in third. Peppa Pig’s Peppa’s Magic Castle (Ladybird) débuted in eighth, as Bluey: The Creek (Ladybird), Donaldson and Scheffler’s A Squash and a Squeeze (Macmillan Children’s) and several Disney colouring books boomeranged back into the chart.

In contrast, Children’s Non-fiction still had a healthy number of annuals hanging about, though Matt Oldfield’s The Most Incredible True Football Stories (You Never Knew) and Andrew Jennings’ Maths like a Ninja zipped past them into the top two.