A children’s biography of King Charles III has topped the UK book chart before the coronation on 6 May.
Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara’s King Charles is part of the Little People, Big Dreams series, which includes illustrated biographies of notable figures such as Stephen Hawking and Michelle Obama.
The nonfiction book, illustrated by Matt Hunt, is the first of the Little People, Big Dreams series to reach No 1. It sold 15,786 copies in the seven days to 29 April, overtaking Marian Keyes’ novel Again, Rachel, a sequel to romcom Rachel’s Holiday.
Other coronation-themed titles to sell well last week include the Official Coronation Souvenir Programme, Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the King, and Nicholas Allan’s The King’s Pants, a follow-up to the 1993 book The Queen’s Knickers. “Interestingly, most of them appear within the children’s market rather than the adult one,” said Philip Stone at Nielsen BookData, the company that publishes the UK book chart. The Mr Men Little Miss series has also published a themed title, The New King.
“The coronation news has been everywhere and children in particular will have many questions about what it is and what will happen,” said Hazel Maxwell, Waterstones children’s buyer. “Books are a great way to talk to children about the event, while keeping young readers engaged and entertained.”
After King Charles’ April publication, a Glasgow bookshop boycotted the Little People, Big Dreams series. Actor Samuel West tweeted “Kids, you too can be a King if you work hard enough. Adding this title to the Little People, Big Dreams stable certainly puts the achievements of Rosa Parks and Malala Yousafzai in perspective.”
Last June, the Department for Education sent out free copies of a book commemorating the Queen’s platinum jubilee to state primary school students in the UK, at a reported publication cost of £12m. In February 2022, Labour MP Dawn Butler sent a letter to the prime minister suggesting that the money should instead be spent on preventing further spread of Covid-19.
To mark the coronation, the government is sending primary school children wildflower seeds in collaboration with the Eden Project. Arts Council England is awarding £165,000 to Libraries Connected, which will distribute the funds to England’s public library authorities.
Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, which broke records as the fastest-selling nonfiction book on its January release, has slipped to 117th in the charts, having sold 1,862 copies last week. During the coronation weekend, The London Dungeon, York Dungeon and Edinburgh Dungeon are offering free entry for the first 75 visitors who hand in a copy of Spare. The London attraction tweeted: “A noble gesture to help Spare the new monarch his blushes and clear London’s streets of all questionable literature.” The books will be distributed to charity shops.
The coronation is scheduled to take place between 11am and 1pm on Saturday. Sánchez Vegara’s King Charles is likely to stay around the top of the charts for the next couple of weeks, explains Stone, depending on when UK bookshops decide to swap out coronation-themed displays. “That’s probably when we will start to see sales slow down,” he said.
The Little People, Big Dreams series sold 495,000 copies in the UK in 2022.
