08 Jul Putting A Spell on Londoners: Harry Potter the first book we remember reading
While it might be tourists that make up the bulk of the queue at Kings Cross’ Platform 9 ¾, it turns out plenty of Londoners are Potter-mad too, with one in 10 residents claiming one of the J.K. Rowling series was the first books they ever read.
Harry Potter, which was also the nation as a whole’s favourite, beat out The Jungle Book and The Very Hungry Caterpillar as the best remembered first book, while parents in the capital are most likely to read the latter to their children today, despite the book being over 50-years-old.
Interestingly, The Bible and Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables completed the top five first books Londoners remember reading, with no room for any Enid Blyton books, despite one in seven nationwide stating a Blyton book as their very first read.
Broken down by region 40% saw a Blyton book as the most popular first read, while London was joined by only the South East as the number one first read we remember, although the series did feature in the top three in the East and West Midlands, as well as Scotland and Wales.
When it comes to reading to our own children, London parents bucked the trend as the only region not to see The Gruffalo in the top two first reads (third), instead with Peppa Pig books joining The Very Hungry Caterpillar, while Harry Potter continues to be popular as the fourth most popular book to read to a child as their first.
Elsewhere, one of the most notable inclusions was the Bible featuring as the most popular first read in the South West, while The Very Hungry Caterpillar is not only in the top three most read first books in a third of regions, but it’s also among the most popular first books we read to our children in two thirds of the regions, beating The Gruffalo, which is read to one in eight children nationwide as a first book.
The Most Popular First Books We Remember In London:
Harry Potter
The Jungle Book
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Bible
Les Miserables
The Most Popular First Books Parents Are Reading To Children In The Region:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Peppa Pig
The Gruffalo
Harry Potter
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