Overall sales of children’s books fell by 2.6% overall in October 2012 compared with October 2011. Hardcovers, board books, and paperbacks were all down, with paperbacks taking the biggest hit, with a 9.4% drop in sales. One possible explanation: continued declining sales for the first Hunger Games novel, which, according to Nielsen BookScan, sold 85,902 copies in October 2011 compared with 29,993 copies in October 2012, a 65% drop. Of course, continued e-book gains – sales were up 42.4% in October 2012 over the same period in 2011 – though small in raw numbers, may contribute to the declines in other formats but also offset a bit of the sting.