5,000,000 Bluey Books and Counting: Penguin and BBC Studios Celebrate Huge Sales Milestone.
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) and BBC Studios ANZ have announced that PRH have hit sales of five million copies of Bluey across 44 titles in the book range available in Australia and New Zealand. Impressively, there has been a Bluey title in the number one position in Nielsen BookScan’s official Australian bestseller charts for a total of 46 weeks.
Holly Toohey, Head of Brands, Partnerships and Audio Director Young Readers, PRH, said: 'From the moment we started working on the Bluey books and with the teams at BBC Studios and Ludo Studio, we knew we were part of something special. Great care and attention has gone into each and every book from all parties to make sure readers can enjoy the magic of the show in book form. It’s an honour to be able to recreate these little pieces of the Bluey world and we look forward to many more books to come!'
Kate O’Connor, Head of Brands and Licensing, BBC Studios ANZ, said: 'The Bluey books perfectly capture the colour and humour of the show, and we’re thrilled with the love and care Penguin has given to this super special series, so that millions of Aussie kids and their parents have been able to experience the joy of Bluey in book form.'
Following a deal brokered by BBC Studios — Bluey’s co-commissioner and global distributor that heads up the show’s licensing programme – Penguin became Bluey’s official book publisher in April 2019.
The first three Bluey books were released in November 2019 — The Beach, Fruit Bat and Time to Play — and since then the series has been met with numerous accolades. The first books quickly became the second, fourth and fifth-highest selling Australian children’s books of the year.
The books have also received industry recognition: The Beach was awarded the 2020 ‘Book of the Year’ – the first time ever in the history of the Australian Book Industry Awards that a children’s picture book has won this prestigious award.
In September 2020, Penguin Random House was named master publishing partner for the preschool brand, and now holds global rights in all languages (excluding China and Chinese languages) to the Bluey titles, with books hitting overseas shelves from October 2021.
