To celebrate the hundred-and-twenty-fifth day of remembrance of the New York Public Library ’s possibility in 1895 , a squad of library expert determine it was only meet to highlight the perennially popular books that have contributed to its winner .

Theypulledthe circulation stats on all mark and digital data formatting of Quran , analyze element like duration of time in print and bearing in the library catalog , and arrive up with a list of the program library ’s 10 most learn - out books of all time .

Topping the list was Ezra Jack Keats’sThe Snowy Day , the charmingly illustrated , timeless tale of a young boy reveal the wintry wonders of a snow day . It ’s been in circulation since its publishing in 1962 , and it ’s far from the only children ’s book on the lean — in fact , six of the top 10 most borrowed leger are meant for a youthful audience , includingDr . Seuss’sThe Cat in the Hat , Maurice Sendak’sWhere the Wild Things Are , E.B. White’sCharlotte ’s Web , and Eric Carle’sThe Very Hungry Caterpillar . As the depository library excuse , this is partly because shorter Christian Bible have quicker turnover rate rate , and partially because sure children ’s classic invoke to a panoptic range of reader .

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And , of course of study , it would hardly be a “ top books ” list if it did n’t admit at least one of J.K. Rowling’sHarry Potterbooks : Harry Potter and the Sorcerer ’s Stonecame in 9th space , with 231,022 checkouts . One child ’s volume , however , is conspicuously lacking : Margaret Wise Brown ’s passive bedtime storyGoodnight Moon , print in 1947 and ostensibly read by just about everyone . allot to the NYPL , Anne Carroll Moore , an of import children ’s librarian at the clock time of the book ’s issue , despised the taradiddle , so the depository library did n’t add it to the catalog until 1972 . ( They gave it an “ honorable citation ” designation on this list . )

Bookscan also extort up high circulation numbers if they ’re often used in shoal curriculums , like Harper Lee’sTo belt down a Mockingbird , or address theme that appear ( and re-emerge ) in current outcome — which might explain whyGeorge Orwell’s1984has been checked out a staggering 441,770 times .

See the repose of the top 10 below , and find out which script made the NYPL ’s 2019 most checked - out listhere .