NYPL's Top Checkouts of 2022 for Kids & Teens
From blockbuster kids' series to popular recent YA titles, kids and teens read a lot in 2022! Book series proved particularly popular among children this year, so, for a broader picture of reading habits among younger New Yorkers, below you'll find the five most popular series for kids in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, alongside the top five most checked-out young adult titles.
Many of these titles are available in a wide array of world languages and in accessible formats, including talking books (DB), braille (BR), and through Bookshare (BK).
Find out the top 10 checkouts across The New York Public Library—and more!
Kids Series
#1: Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
by Jeff Kinney
Book 1: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg Heffley's Journal
Greg records his sixth-grade experiences in a middle school where he and his best friend, Rowley, undersized weaklings amid boys who need to shave twice daily, hope just to survive, but when Rowley grows more popular, Greg must take drastic measures to save their friendship.
Accessible: DB, BK, BR
World Languages: Español | Deutsch | עבר׳ת | 本語 | Français | Português | Shqip | Svenska | 中文 | Русский | Italiano | العَرَبِية
#2: Dog Man series
by Dav Pilkey
Book 1: Dog Man
Follows the heroic adventures of Greg the police dog who, after being injured on the job at the side of his police officer companion, makes history through a life-saving surgery that transforms him into Dog Man.
Accessible: BK
World Languages: Español | Shqip | Deutsch | Français
#3: The Baby-Sitters Club Graphix Series
Based on the novels by Ann M. Martin
Book 1: The Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy's Great Idea (by Raina Telgemeier)
Follows the adventures of Kristy and the other members of the Baby-sitters Club as they deal with crank calls, uncontrollable two-year-olds, wild pets, and parents who do not always tell the truth.
Accessible: BK
World Languages: Español | Français | Italiano
#4: Smile series
by Raina Telgemeier
Book 1: Smile
Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader, but one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth, and what follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached—on top of all that, there's a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly.
Accessible: BK
#5: Percy Jackson & the Olympians series
by Rick Riordan
Book 1: The Lightning Thief
After learning that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea, Percy Jackson is transferred from boarding school to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods, and becomes involved in a quest to prevent a war between the gods.
Accessible: DB, BK
World Languages: Español | Français | Italiano | Português | 中文 | Deutsch | Vietnamese | Русский | Svenska | 日本語 | עבר׳ת
Teens
#1: The Summer I Turned Pretty
by Jenny Han
Ignored by Conrad and Jeremiah one summer after the next, Belly is shocked when she returns to the beach house the following season and discovers that everything has changed, for both the better and worse.
Accessible: BK
#2: A Court of Thorns and Roses
by Sarah J. Maas
Dragged off to a treacherous magical land as retribution for killing a wolf, huntress Feyre learns that her captor, Tamlin, is one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.
Accessible: DB, BK
#3: One of Us Is Lying
by Karen M. McManus
When one of five students in detention is found dead, his high-profile classmates—including a brainy intellectual, a popular beauty, a drug dealer on probation, and an all-star athlete—are investigated and revealed to be the subjects of the victim's latest gossip postings.
Accessible: DB, BK
World Languages: Deutsch
# 4: Shadow and Bone: The Grisha Trilogy, Book 1
by Leigh Bardugo
Orphaned by the Border Wars, Alina Starkov is taken to become the protege of the mysterious Darkling, who trains her to join the magical elite in the belief that she is the Sun Summoner, who can destroy the monsters of the Fold.
Accessible: DB, BK
#5: It's Not Summer Without You
by Jenny Han
Teenaged Isobel "Belly" Conklin, whose life revolves around spending the summer at her mother's best friend's beach house, reflects on the tragic events of the past year that changed her life forever.
Accessible: BK
Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.