With 10 Dog Man books plus Cat Kid Comic Club, there’s not a lot of room for graphic novels that are not by Dav Pilkey. Never underestimate the power of people playing video games and doing silly skits on YouTube, though: the number 4 book is an April release, FGTeeV Saves the World! That exclamation point is part of the title, not an expression of surprise. The first FGTeeV book debuted on the chart in January 2020, and it’s back on the chart in April, for the second month in a row, as a paperback.
There are definitely winners and losers in the Kids category. Graphix is a big winner, taking up 17 slots; Dav Pilkey is a big winner, with 11 slots; and series are big winners, as most of the books in this top 20 are series titles, with the possible exception of New Kid (which has a sequel that has charted but doesn’t have the same traction as the first book) and Raina Telgemeier’s books, which all stand-alone but share a common look and feel and, in the case of her memoirs, a common world. Young readers like consistency, and if they like one thing, they want more of it. Adult genre fans, of course, have similar tastes.
It’s also worth noting that HarperCollins is having some success, with three titles on the chart. No one else made it into the top 20 this month. Titles from Viking and First Second Books show up for a month or two at a time, but Jerry Craft’s New Kid is on the chart every month, and the FGTeeV books are frequent flyers as well.
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NPD BookScan Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels – April 2021 (4/3/21 – 5/1/21) |
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Rank |
Title |
Author |
Publisher |
|
1 |
DOG MAN: MOTHERING HEIGHTS HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
2 |
CAT KID COMIC CLUB HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
3 |
DOG MAN: GRIME AND PUNISHMENT HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
4 |
FGTEEV SAVES THE WORLD! HC |
FGTEEV |
HARPERCOLLINS |
|
5 |
DOG MAN: FOR WHOM THE BALL ROLLS HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
6 |
DOG MAN: FETCH-22 HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
7 |
DOG MAN HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
8 |
WINGS OF FIRE BOOK 4: THE DARK SECRET |
TUI T. SUTHERLAND |
GRAPHIX |
|
9 |
DOG MAN: BRAWL OF THE WILD HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
10 |
DOG MAN: LORD OF THE FLEAS HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
11 |
DOG MAN AND CAT KID HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
12 |
DOG MAN UNLEASHED HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
13 |
DOG MAN: A TALE OF TWO KITTIES HC |
DAV PILKEY |
GRAPHIX |
|
14 |
GUTS |
RAINA TELGEMEIER |
GRAPHIX |
|
15 |
WINGS OF FIRE BOOK 1: THE DRAGONET PROPHECY |
TUI T. SUTHERLAND |
GRAPHIX |
|
16 |
FGTEEV PRESENTS: INTO THE GAME! HC |
FGTEEV |
HARPERCOLLINS |
|
17 |
BABY-SITTERS LITTLE SISTER VOL. 3: KAREN'S WORST DAY |
KATY FARINA |
GRAPHIX |
|
18 |
NEW KID |
JERRY CRAFT |
HARPERCOLLINS |
|
19 |
SISTERS |
RAINA TELGEMEIER |
GRAPHIX |
|
20 |
DRAMA |
RAINA TELGEMEIER |
GRAPHIX |
|
Source: The NPD Group/BookScan |
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For charts of April 2021 graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
April 2021 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels
April 2021 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels
For the charts with the actual sales numbers from NPD BookScan, see these articles on the ICv2 Pro site:
April 2021 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
April 2021 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
April 2021 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
NPD BookScan collects weekly point-of-sale data on print books from over 16,000 locations including e-tailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores, and more. NPD BookScan covers approximately 85% of the U.S. trade print book market. The ranks on this chart are based on piece sales. Some publishers classify titles that are primarily text, or art books, as graphic novels; we've removed those titles from the ranking above.
For past BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novel lists, see the "BookScan Top 20 GN Index."