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Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob wins Waterstones children’s book prize

Huw Aaron’s tale of a green blob reading to its child takes overall prize, while Janeen Hayat wins in the young readers category and SF Williamson in the older readers

This year’s Waterstones children’s book prize winner features a green blob tucking its child – a smaller green blob – into bed.

Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob by Huw Aaron is narrated by the parent blob who, through the course of the book, tells the child blob about all the other creatures also getting ready to sleep, including a yeti, Medusa and a Minotaur.

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Charlie Mackesy’s Always Remember is Christmas No 1 in the UK’s bestsellers chart

The writer and illustrator’s follow-up to The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse sold roughly one copy every 14 seconds last week

Charlie Mackesy has scored the literary world’s Christmas No 1 with Always Remember, the follow-up to his bestselling 2019 title The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.

Always Remember sold 43,825 copies in the seven days to 20 December, equating to a sale roughly every 14 seconds, according to NielsenIQ BookData. The illustrated fable – subtitled The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and the Storm – follows the four unlikely friends as they navigate meteorological and metaphorical dark clouds.

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‘Suddenly, it was everywhere’: why some books become blockbusters overnight

Whether it’s through TikTok buzz, celebrity endorsements or good old-fashioned word of mouth, some titles enjoy a second, more powerful, life. But what unites them – and is there a formula for this type of success?

There is a particular kind of literary deja vu that strikes sometimes. Seemingly out of nowhere, the same book starts appearing across multiple social media feeds. On the bus, you’ll spot two copies of the same title in one day. A friend says, “Have you read this yet?”, to which you respond, “Someone was just telling me about it the other day.”

These are the sleeper hits that seem to materialise without warning. They are not stacked high on the new release tables. They are books that, for one reason or another, have slipped their original timelines and found a second, often more powerful life.

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