The use of eBooks and audiobooks has grown steadily in K-12 classrooms and libraries. The number of digital books borrowed on OverDrive’s K-12 digital reading platform is up 48 percent compared to 2015. K-12 students are reading more eBooks and audiobooks, and while an increasing number of schools are moving their curriculum books to digital, more than half of all eBooks read in K-12 classrooms are for pleasure reading according to a School Library Journal survey.

2016 top digital school titlesThe top 5 eBooks and audiobooks used in K-12 schools in 2016 include:

Top 5 Children/YA eBooks of 2016

  1. The Long Haul, Jeff Kinney (Abrams)
  2. Wonder, R. J. Palacio (Random House Children’s Books)
  3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney (Amulet Books)
  4. Cabin Fever, Jeff Kinney (Amulet Books)
  5. Big Nate Makes a Splash, Lincoln Peirce (Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC)

 Top 5 Children/YA audiobooks of 2016

  1. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Audio)
  2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling (Pottermore from J.K. Rowling)
  3. The Maze Runner, James Dashner (Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group)
  4. The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan (Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group)
  5. Hatchet, Gary Paulsen (Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group)

OverDrive’s Top Digital Class Sets, eBook versions of the titles that serve as a cornerstone of the K-12 English Language Arts Curriculum, focused on inclusion and connection in 2016. These Classics and New Classics explore issues of empathy and bullying, race and class, immigration and American culture.

 Top 5 Class Sets in 2016

  1. Wonder, R. J. Palacio (Amulet)
  2. A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry (Knopf Doubleday)
  3. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston (HarperCollins)
  4. Inside Out and Back Again, Thanhha Lai (HarperCollins)
  5. Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis (Random House)

In national trends, Fantasy and Graphic Novels top the most popular J/YA eBooks. OverDrive’s top predictions for 2017 include exciting new titles in these genres.

Top 5 OverDrive Predicted Hot Books for Winter 2017

  1. The Secret Project, Jonah Winter (Beach Lane Books)
  2. King’s Cage, Victoria Aveyard (HarperCollins)
  3. Traitor to the Throne, Alwyn Hamilton (Penguin Young Readers Group)
  4. Carve the Mark, Veronica Roth (HarperCollins)
  5. History is All You Left Me, Adam Silvera (Soho Press)