PW’s two children’s bestseller lists—one for picture books and the second for frontlist fiction—have long been bifurcated, with Penguin Random House dominating the picture book list and Scholastic the fiction list, and that was the case again in 2025.

PRH took 558 positions, roughly 43%, of the 1,300 bestseller spots on the picture book list last year, a slight increase from the 546 position the publisher held in 2024. Scholastic had 373 positions on the fiction list, two fewer than in 2024. In both cases, PRH and Scholastic held a sizable edge over their nearest competitors.

HarperCollins took second place on the picture book bestseller list with its titles occupying 160 slots, while Simon & Schuster took the second most positions on the fiction bestseller list occupying 272 positions. S&S’s fiction bestseller performance was fueled by two books by Lynn Painter—Betting on You and Nothing Like the Movies—which were on the list for 32 weeks and 29 weeks, respectively, and two titles in Lauren Roberts’ Powerless series, which spent a total of 58 weeks on the fiction bestseller list.

Overall, the Big Five publishers captured 70% of available picture book bestseller positions, but only 55% of fiction bestsellers as Scholastic took nearly 29% of fiction slots. Scholastic scored with a number of long-running fiction bestsellers led by Dav Pilkey’s Big Jim Begins (Dog Man #13), which was on the list for 49 weeks. Another Scholastic title, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, was on the list for 40 weeks.

Jeff Kinney had the second longest-running fiction bestseller with his Wimpy Kid title, A Hot Mess, staying on the charts for 44 weeks. Kinney’s publisher, Abrams, had 10 books hit the PW fiction list for a total of 107 weeks.

PRH’s bestseller totals do not include books published by Sourcebooks, which, though majority-owned by PRH, remains structurally and operationally independent. Led by its How to Catch line, Sourcebooks had a big year in picture books, placing 31 titles on the PW list for a total of 136 weeks. Its bestseller output on the fiction list slipped from a total of 177 positions in 2024 to 55 last year.

Other publishers that had a successful year of the picture book bestseller charts included Printers Row. The publishing arm of ReaderLink had 15 titles hit the PW list, occupying 102 positions led by seven titles in its You’re My Little series. Chronicle Books had four titles hit the list with three coming from its Construction Site series.

Children’s Bestseller Picture Book Publishers by the Numbers

Penguin Random House: Titles, 83; Positions, 558

HarperCollins: Titles, 29; Positions, 160

Sourcebooks: Titles, 31: Positions, 136

Simon & Schuster: Titles, 12, Positions, 104

Printers Row: Titles, 15, Positions, 102

Macmillan: Titles, 5; Positions, 71

Scholastic: Titles, 7; Positions, 28

Chronicle Books: Titles, 4; Positions, 20

Hachette Book Group: Titles, 6; Positions, 16

Children’s Bestseller Fiction Publishers by the Numbers

Scholastic: Titles, 49; Positions, 373

Simon & Schuster: Titles, 34, Positions, 272

Penguin Random House: Titles, 35; Positions, 171

HarperCollins: Titles, 26; Positions, 126

Abrams: Titles, 10: Positions, 107

Hachette Book Group: Titles, 19; Positions, 77

Macmillan: Titles, 26; Positions, 69

Sourcebooks: Titles, 11: Positions, 55

Disney: Titles, 6; Positions, 41