CHILDREN’S BESTSELLERS

Editor’s Note: As part of The Times’ Reading by 9 initiative, Book Review is publishing a monthly series on how parents can introduce kids to the best children’s literature.

Southern California Ranking

1. NOVA’S ARK by David Kirk (Scholastic: $17.95) After crash-landing on a lonely planet, a young robot named Nova creates a menagerie from his spaceship’s parts. (Ages 5-8)

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

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2. HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $16.95) Unhappy at home, a young boy discovers that he is a magician with great powers. (Ages 8 and up)

Last Week: 2; Weeks On List: 3

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3. BUNNY BUNGALOW by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Nancy Hayashi (Harcourt Brace: $13) The rhyming story of how Mr. and Mrs. Bunny furnish a cozy home in a river gully. (Ages 3-5)

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

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4. THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL by Anne Frank (Bantam: $4.99) The classic story of life in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam by a gifted Jewish teenager. (Ages 8 and up)

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

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5. ANIMORPHS 28: THE EXPERIMENT by K. A. Applegate (Scholastic: $4.99) The evil Yeerks plan to zap human free will with a drug hidden in hamburgers. (Ages 7 and up)

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.