The Very Hungry Caterpillar is the UK's most read children's book.
Eric Carle's 1969 classic about a caterpillar turning into a butterfly is read an average 9 times a year by Britain's 5.5 million primary school children, according to a new survey.
The classic Cinderella fairytale comes a close second! The study also revealed that parents actively encourage their children to read books they themselves have loved and that lots of the classics are rising in popularity. Books from the Mr Men series come third while the Peppa Pig books come 4th in the list. Parents and their children read Postman Pat books an average of 7.5 times a year while The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson's is likely to be read at least 7 times a year.
Classics like Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dr Seuss's book The Cat in the Hat and the' 80's favourite Spot the Dog series also made the Top 20 list which was compiled from the results of a survey of 2,000 parents with children under 10.
The mums and dads surveyed agreed that in general sons and daughters had different tastes when it came to their reading habits but that as a rule both preferred adventures and traditional fairy tales. Mums were more likely to read the bedtime story and over 60%s of parents say their child reads before bed or gets read to most nights.
Technology has had an impact on how children read and surprisingly more than 1 in 4 parents say their child had read a story on an e-reader!
MOST READ CHILDREN'S BOOKS(no. of times read a year per household)
8.85 The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
8.71 Cinderella - Various
8.41 Mr Men - Roger Hargreaves
7.72 Peppa Pig - Various
7.49 Postman Pat - John Cunliffe
7.48 The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson
7.43 Fireman Sam - Various
7.39 Spot the Dog - Eric Hill
7.31 Biff, Chip and Kipper - Roderick and Cynthia Rider Hunt
7.25 Horrid Henry - Francesca Simon
7.14 The Gruffalo's child - Julia Donaldson
6.66 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
6.65 Dora the Explorer - Various
6.53 Winnie the Pooh - A. A. Milne
6.43 Bob the Builder - Various
6.09 The Cat in the Hat - Dr Seuss
6.09 Fantastic Mr Fox - Roald Dahl
5.88 Charlie and Lola - Lauren Child
5.22 Alfie and Annie Rose Stories - Shirley Hughes
5.21 Aliens love Underpants - Claire Freedman and Ben Cort
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January 2012
Early Learning Centre commissioned the research to mark the Great Book Exchange | 
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
