Waterbury Wrapped: What did Waterbury read (and more) in 2023?
December 28, 2023 | By Rachel Muse 
What did Waterbury read in 2023 and what does it say about our town?
One thing I can say for sure – Waterbury loves its library and Waterbury residents love to read. Over 29,000 physical books, DVDs, and other items were checked out at the library this year. When you add the nearly 15,000 digital ebooks and e-audiobooks checked out from our digital services – WOW – Waterbury did a ton of reading in 2023!
What was it that kept patrons coming back to the library again and again? The big winner this year: picture books! We’re proud of our remarkable collection of diverse picture books, and we’re thrilled the children of Waterbury begin developing their love of reading young.
The top five picture books this year reveal some themes that are always popular with the littlest readers. For example, “Trucks on Trucks” by Sorche Fairbank features the only thing better than a book about trucks: a book about trucks on top of other trucks! Trucks feature heavily in another favorite of the year: “Farming Strong, All Year Long” by Sherri Duskey Rinker, which combines trucks with another ubiquitous Vermont activity – agriculture.
But of course, there is one thing that excites kids more than trucks. You guessed it – poop. “I Eat Poop: A Dung Beetle Story” by Mark Pett uses that irresistible hook to teach gentle lessons on bullying and kindness, and being proud of those things that make you different. No surprise at all that this lovely book won the Vermont Department of Library’s Red Clover Award in Vermont in 2022-2023.
But what are the grown-ups of Waterbury reading? Did trucks and poop appear as prominently in those books? Turns out…no. Our second most popular category of books last year was also no surprise to us because we watch the Adult Fiction titles fly off the “New” shelves as fast as we can get them up there.
A perennial Vermont favorite author topped this category: Louise Penny’s 18th Chief Inspector Gamache novel, “A World of Curiosities,” was by far the most circulated title this year. Not far behind is a book many are calling the best of the year, “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver, an Appalachian retelling of the Charles Dickens classic “David Copperfield” and the winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Beloved BookTok writer Colleen Hoover’s books “It Ends With Us” and “It Starts With Us'' ranked third and fourth on our list. And one male author breaks the top five – John Sandford with the 32nd book in the Prey series, “Righteous Prey.”
So, while Waterbury residents love their mysteries, thrillers and romance, they definitely found time to pick up some literary fiction in the past year, as well.
And although books and reading are our primary focus, there is so much more to be found at the Waterbury Public Library. The top five items checked out from our Library of Things shows the diversity of our collection, and represents a community that loves science, nature and the outdoors.
The “Thing” that circulated the most in 2023: passes to the ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain in Burlington. Not far behind are passes to Vermont State Parks, appropriate for a town that hosts two state parks. And what better item to bring on your state park visit than a telescope? Yes, you can check out an amazing Orion StarBlast Telescope at the library if you’re interested in an evening of stargazing. But our second most popular “Thing” to circulate from the library: HP Chromebooks. Borrow a Chromebook and a wi-fi hotspot if you need technology on the go.
2023 was not without its challenges, but we were happy to serve the people of Waterbury all year, providing materials for education, entertainment and enrichment. We look forward to a new year and are filled with curiosity to see what sparks your interest in 2024.
A closing note
Those who subscribe to the Waterbury Public Library social media pages (waterburypubliclibrary on Facebook and waterburypubliclibraryvt on Instagram) have likely already seen our rundown of the very hottest items at the library in the past year. If you are not subscribed to our social media, what are you waiting for? And there’s lots more on our website WaterburyPublicLibrary.com about library books and materials, events, programs and resources.
Rachel Muse is the director of the Waterbury Public Library.