1. The largest reading lesson took place in the UK on March 7th, 2013 with 288 participants. We thought it would involve more people so now we’re wondering if the MS READaTHON family could gather 300 or more for a reading lesson?!
2. The youngest commercially published female author is Dorothy Straight of Washington DC, USA, who wrote How the World Began in 1962, aged 4. That’s absolutely incredible!
3. John Q. Benham of Avoca, Indiana has a private collection of over 1.5 million books. They have filled up his – we think most of them must be kept in his six-car garage - two-storey house and piled under tarpaulin outdoors. That’s crazy. Imagine how much all those books cost but then again, the knowledge and imagination he has gained is priceless!
4. The longest reading aloud marathon is 113 hours 15 minutes and was achieved by Deepak Sharma Bajagain from September 19th - 24th, 2008. We hope he had some water!
5. The fastest selling book in history is (of course) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh - and final - novel in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series. This instalment sold 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours following its release in the USA at 00.01 on July 21st, 2007. When did you buy yours?
6. The most books signed by one author in a single session is 4,649 by Sammy Lee (Hong Kong) who signed his book, Autopilot Leadership Model in Shenyang, Liaoning, China on January 19th, 2013.
7. This one is funny. The most abandoned book is Simon Cowell: The Unauthorised Biography by Chas Newkey-Burden. A 2010 survey of thousands of books left behind by guests at Travelodge Hotels across Britain revealed that the X Factor star's biography topped the list!