These are some of the most popular books at the Medicine Hat Public Library in 2021. (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Chris Brown

Flying off the shelves

VIDEO: What was popular at the library in 2021

Dec 30, 2021 | 4:29 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – What’s old is new again at the Medicine Hat Public Library, thanks to a popular social media app.

When the local library began getting dozens of holds on the 2018 book Verity by Colleen Hoover, staff did some digging.

“We only had like one or two copies because when it came out in 2018 it actually wasn’t very popular so we just bought, you know, a couple,” explains head of marketing Gillian Reimer. “And then all of sudden there’s like 30 holds on our one copy or two copies of this book.”

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The answer lies in TikTok’s #BookTok community. It’s helped move books from the library’s shelves into the hands of Hatters.

Many of the popular books in 2021 got a revival this year, such as MHPL’s top title, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which was first published in 2017.

“The interesting thing about the list this year is most of the titles don’t come from 2021 published books,” says Reimer. “So we’re finding that a lot of the top 10 are actually what’s popular on TikTok right now.”

Reimer also discussed the popular young adult and children’s books and what was frequently checked out from the Library of Things. Watch the video to see what Reimer had to say about 2021 at the Medicine Hat Public Library.

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

3. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear

4. Untamed by Glennon Doyle

5. Verity by Colleen Hoover

6. The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher

7. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

8. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

9. Finlay Donovan is Killing it by Elle Cosimano

10. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Young Adult

1. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

2. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Barnes

3. One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus

4. We Were Liars by E Lockhart

5. The Cousins by Karen McManus

6. Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas

7. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

8. Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson

9. Toilet-bound Hanako-kun by Aidalro

10. 1984 by George Orwell

Children

1. The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! by Mo Willems

2. The Barren Grounds by David Robertson

3. A Big Guy Took My Ball! by Mo Willems

4. We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom

5. City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

6. Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett

7. The Dangerous Gift by Tui Sutherland

8. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

9. Weird but True! Canada by National Geographic Society

10. Giraffe Problems by Jory John