A Look into My Local Bookstore 📚
An American expat's journey into her local bookstore to analyze what's showcased and her thoughts on the UK book market. But really I just want to look at the pretty covers 🤩
Where is this bookstore? Birmingham, UK
Name of the bookstore? Waterstones
What I saw first: a surprising number of tried-and-true books, including the Oi, [insert animal here] books. You may not recognize this series in the US as they haven’t traveled past the oceanic divide for some reason. Kes Gray's funny words and Jim Field’s lively illustrations continue to captivate young audiences. I love the books, they’re super cute and funny so I get their staying power.
There was a newer range of books mixed in between the classics and celebrity books from Roald Dahl, David Walliams, and Julia Donaldson.
Surprised to see:
The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods by Mickey Please (what a perfect author name btw). I flipped through this book as the illustrations immediately stood out to me from the book stand.
It’s crammed-packed full of slightly older-looking illustrations that I could imagine being in a graphic novel or a Dungeons and Dragons illustrated manual. A totally unique book that I didn’t expect to be facing out, but happy to see that it was. Very cool! I didn’t take it home this time only because my bookshelves are currently spilling over with so many unread books #booklifestruggles 😬The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers. Wow! This book is still getting love even though it was published in 2013. That was more than 10 years ago.
I was surprised to see this book right at the front of the children’s book section, but people love it! It’s another great book series that deserves to be a classic in my bookish opinion. I took these photos in January, so maybe they were pushing these for back-to-school season?Gods and Myths Books are going STRONG. Oh Maya Gods! by Maz Evans is a book that looked very enticing. I love Mayan mythology and think it’s cool that Maz gives us an ancient American angle on the Percy-Jackson-style story. I also spotted the very popular Loki books by Louie Stowell here which look like fun reads.
I think there’s always more room for middle-grade mythology books! What’s your opinion on them?
PB themes that reigned supreme:
Pooping. Seriously. SO. MUCH. POOPING. If you have a pooping book in your manuscript drawer, take it out because they must be selling like poopy hotcakes right now!
Underpants (which I’m happy to see since my book Hedgehogs
Don’tWear Underwear comes out April 1st, in case you were wondering 👀).Dinosaurs! RAWWRR!!
And potatoes, which might actually be a UK-specific theme. Potatoes are a big deal here. I don’t remember them being center stage in Texas bookstores…
Popular series on the shelves:
In picture books:
Julia Donaldson, Supertato and the Oi! Series and other classics.
Lots of non-fiction series that I didn’t pay nearly enough attention to. Next time!
In middle grade:
Harry Potter still gets its own section (which I forgot to take a photo of!), lots of Roald Dahl and David Walliams on the shelves too.
The wildly popular Skandor Unicorn books (filled with blood-hungry unicorns!)
Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid as well.
Amelia Fang for spooky younger readers in your life.
Young adult:
Heartstopper, still! I don’t think Heartstopper will ever get bumped off the shelves? Too good.
I’m not a huge YA reader so I’m not up to date on the more popular series. Another area to dig into next time~
Books I’m excited about:
Anything by Flavia Z Drago. I loved seeing Vlad The Fabulous Vampire on the shelves outside of the spooky season.
The Amari series by B.B. Alston, which I have heard so many good things about and the cover artwork is perfecto 🤌
Hooky by Miriam Bonastre Tur, is a surprising find on the shelves in the middle grade section. Looks like a graphic novel series, in a more manga style, published by Webtoon, which I haven’t seen them publish outside of the Lore Olympus books. I need to keep an eye out for more Webtoon books in the future!
Last thoughts:
Loads of chapter and middle-grade books in this Waterstones! This is a big difference between US and UK bookstores. The middle-grade section is usually larger than the picture book section, which I think is less common in the US.
And there are so many beautifully illustrated and highly decorated books. In the UK market, I’ve noticed that covers get fancy lettering, glossy covers, and sparkly accents. I don’t know how the publishers can afford to do this, but I love looking at all the covers!
I can dive deeper in our next visit, but this is it for now! Outside of me, there was only a dad and his little toddler wandering around the children’s book section. Maybe next time, I’ll ask what books they were grabbing first!
See you next time 💛
Hugs,
Marissa
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