Publishers Weekly has just published 2010 sales figures for top-selling children's books in hardcover, paperback and e-book format. Some trends to note: most of the best-sellers are either part of a series, or a licensed character/TV/movie tie-in. And the series are generally by established, name-brand authors. While this really isn't a surprise, it will be interesting to watch if more smaller publishers start doing series by lesser-known writers. It's clear that once readers find something they like, they want more of the same.

The positive take on these numbers is the sheer volume of the sales. We're talking millions and millions of books sold, for all ages, in a questionable economy. And if you look at the e-book best-sellers, they're often the same titles as on the print best-seller lists. More evidence, I think, that e-book sales don't take away from print, but just expand a book's audience.