Julia Donaldson makes history!
Julia Donaldson has become the first writer to sell more than 50 million units through British bookshops since accurate records began!
Donaldson and her illustrators have now shifted 50.3 million copies via NielsenIQ BookScan’s Total Consumer Market.
Donaldson’s bestseller is her and illustrator Axel Scheffler’s 1999 paperback edition of The Gruffalo (Macmillan Children’s), which has sold just under 1.5 million copies. She has two other editions that have exceeded one million units (both illustrated by Scheffler and published by Macmillan Children’s): The Gruffalo’s Child and Room on the Broom. All of Donaldson’s top 10 bestsellers have been collaborations with Axel Scheffler. Various versions of the two Gruffalo titles account for nearly 20% of Donaldson’s total, a percentage that may increase in Autumn 2026 when the third title in the series is set to be launched.
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