Poll for
International Children's Book Day also sees Roald Dahl declared best author
- Alison Flood , guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 3 April 2013 15.51 BST
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| Harry Potter and the Gruffalo |
Doing it for
the kids ... Harry Potter and the Gruffalo. Photograph: Allstar/PR
The magic of Harry
Potter has narrowly edged out the charms of the Gruffalo to see the
boy wizard named the best ever fictional character by children.
JK
Rowling's creation won 38% of kids' votes in a survey of 1,037
parents and their children, with Julia
Donaldson's monster picking up 34%, and the Cat in the Hat 28%. But
Rowling missed out in the competition to be named best ever children's author,
with kids voting instead for Roald
Dahl. Dahl took half of children's votes, with Rowling voted for by
30%. A surprise success for Beatrix Potter saw the Peter Rabbit creator come in
third, with 20% of the vote from children.
Parents also
chose Dahl as their favourite children's author, with 45% voting for the
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory creator, but Enid
Blyton came in second for adults (30%), and Rowling third (25%).
Harry Potter was parents' favourite character, taking 40% of votes, followed by
the Famous Five with and the BFG.
The survey was
carried out by discount book chain The Works to mark International Children's Book Day. "It's
great to see classic children's books and characters are still holding favour
with kids throughout Britain, with parents' own preferences presumably swaying
their little ones' reading habits," said chief executive Kevin Keaney.
"More than half (51%) of the parents polled said their children read the
same books as they did, showing tastes haven't changed and classics remain
popular."
Keaney revealed
that 29% of parents surveyed said their children owned e-readers, but 88% still
read paper books. "It's also great to see that ebooks aren't taking
over," said Keaney.
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