Fantasy and Commemorative Titles Are Best Sellers in Spain

By Ximena Diego -- Críticas, 4/15/2007

Spain’s children and YA book industry grew 2.6 percent in 2006, according to the Anuario del Libro infantil y juvenil 2007, a yearbook published on March 29 by Ediciones SM. According to this latest edition of Anuario, more than 55 million children’s and YA books were printed last year, hitting an all time high in Spain.

Fantasy books and commemorative editions were among the best-selling titles. The popularity of commemorative titles continues a trend started by the fourth Centennial of El Quijote in 2005. “This style continues to be in vogue,” said Elsa Aguiar, editorial manager of SM, during the presentation of the survey in Spain. Juan Ramón Jiménez’s classic Platero y yo (Platero and I) had soaring sales, benefiting from the 50th anniversary of the author’s receipt of the Nobel Prize. Other best sellers included adventure novels recreating Christopher Columbus’s journeys—like ¡Polizón a bordo! El secreto de Colón (Stowaway on Board! Columbus’ secret), by Vicente Muñoz Puelles and El grumete de Colón (Columbus’s Cabin Boy) by Angel Esteban— celebrating the fifth Centennial of the navigator’s death.

Many best-selling titles were fantasy, a category that is “soaring” in Spain according to Aguiar. Among the most popular were Las Crónicas de Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia), Memorias de Idhún (Idhun Chronicles), by Laura Gallego, and J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince).

Sales of children and young adult titles actually decreased 3.3 percent in 2006, but the average price of books increased to 7.08 Euros ($9.60).