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The Gruffalo likely to be a child's first book, The Works survey finds
A survey commissioned by The Works found that The Gruffalo (Macmillan Children’s Books) is the most popular book among parents reading to their children for the first time.
Released ahead of National Book Lovers Day on 9th August, the survey collected data from 2,000 parents across the UK in April 2023. In commissioning the survey, The Works "wanted to understand family reading habits", a spokesperson told The Bookseller.
The survey explored the top books read to children today, parents’ and children’s reading habits, and whether parents’ experiences influenced how they read to their children.
It showed that one in five parents are picking up Julia Donaldson’s books to introduce their children to reading, while The Gruffalo is the first book read to one in eight children.
A number of classics featured on the list of the top 10 books parents read to their children, including Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Puffin), which is still being chosen by parents as a first read over 50 years since its initial publication date.
Other books that parents often opted for to introduce children to reading included Fiona Watt’s That’s Not My… series (Usborne Publishing) and Sam McBratney’s Guess How Much I Love You (Walker Books).
The survey found that parents who were introduced to reading later in life themselves were more likely to read to their children at a later stage in their development. Others said that they read to their children from a very young age, with 44% reporting reading to them from birth and 27% before they turned two.
