These Are the Brooklyn Public Library's Most-Borrowed Books of All Time

The list is part of the library's celebrations for its 125th anniversary.

Brooklyn Public Library just let everybody in on a little NYC secret. As part of its 125th anniversary celebration, the library just announced its most-borrowed books of all time.

The list, which features 125 titles, was put together by a dedicated team at BPL. In order to come up with the results, the staff analyzed a variety of factors, including checkout and circulation data, historical bestseller lists, and even years since publication dates.

"We're thrilled to close out our yearlong anniversary celebration with a list that gives us insight into what Brooklynites have been reading over the last 125 years," Brooklyn Public Library's President and CEO Linda E. Johnson said in a statement. "From beloved children's books to classic literature, graphic novels and everything in between."

The golden medal for most borrowed book of all time went to Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and according to the library's report, children's classics earned severall spots on the list.

Here's the top 10 most borrowed books in the history of BPL:

  1. Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak (1963)
  2. The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats (1962)
  3. The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss (1957)
  4. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (1843)
  5. Are You My Mother?, PD Eastman (1960)
  6. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (1847)
  7. Naruto: Volume 1, Masashi Kishimoto, English adaptation by Jo Duffy, translation by Katy Bridges (2000)
  8. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (1884)
  9. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (1960)
  10. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (1868)


To see the complete list, you can visit this website.

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Serena Tara is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.