What the success of Bobbie Goods reveals about Brazil’s reading habits

After the success of Junior Rosterola’s novel Café com Deus Pai, which dominated the publishing market in 2023 and 2024, the Brazilian literary scene has gained an unusual new hero: Bobbie Goods coloring books.

The cult of Rosterola, launched by Editora Vélos, became a phenomenon by uniting the religious public and casual readers. This success has experts analyzing the strength of the works targeting an evangelical audience – especially since the author is a pastor. Now, in 2025, a completely different trend is at the top of the rankings: books without text, focused only on drawing illustrations.

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According to a survey conducted by the website PublishNews, which specializes in the publishing market, the four best-selling books this year are from the Bobbie Goods series published in Brazil by HarperCollins: From Day to Night (69,773 copies), Hot Days (58,368), Isso e Aquilo (53,345) and Cold Days (42,938). The same result is repeated on Amazon, where the group ranks first among the most purchased businesses.

What are bobby goods?

Bobbie Goods are coloring books by American artist Abby Gouveia.
The books have gone viral on social media for their cute and nostalgic drawings of animals in everyday scenes.
The works became popular as a means of relaxation, attracting the attention of adults and children alike.

The animated titles even outshine “The Last Secret” (Editora Arqueiro), a new book by Dan Brown – the first in more than five years with the character of Robert Langdon, the hero of hits like “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons.” The North American author only appears in fifth place on the list, with 42,545 copies sold, while the Bobbie Goods series has already surpassed 224,000 copies. See this year’s bestseller list here.

What does the ranking say about the national audience?

The presence of drawing books in classifications of literary works raises controversy among sector experts. Pedro Pacifico, an author, writer, and influencer with a focus on literature, commented on the topic in a conversation with Capitals.

“I am not against coloring books. They perform the function of entertainment, help with anxiety, concentration. But, in my opinion, their presence on the bestseller list ultimately distorts the analysis of consumption by readers. What is read, while a coloring book, in fact, does not represent what is read because it is not a reading book.”

Their presence on this list does a disservice to the analysis of the publishing market and the consumer analysis itself.

Pedro Pacifico

Pedro, author of Trinta Segundos sem Pensar no Medo: Memórias de um Leitor (ed. Intrínseca), also commented that the presence of drawing books on the list indicates that the public is looking for more practical activities, which do not require the focus that literature requires.

Pedro Pacifico

He concludes: “At a time when screens take up too much space in people’s daily lives and contribute to fragmented attention and very fast stimuli, reading requires the opposite. You need to make an effort to be able to read. Coloring requires less, because it is manual. This shows that people are using their free time to do an activity other than reading.”

Even when searching for coloring books, the public has started going to bookstores, inflaming a bookselling community that has been struggling to keep the machines running since the Covid-19 pandemic, says Rafaela Machado, executive editor at Record Publishing.

“We still live in a non-reading country, where the majority of the population reads less than one book a year. When a book breaks this bubble, even if it is a coloring book, it means that a large part of society is away from screens and visiting bookstores. It also means that bookstores and publishers who sell coloring books get resources to invest in the main business of our market, which is literature.”

Ultimately, the bestseller list reflects a national reality: We are not yet a country of readers. But every time a book hits the shelves of those who don’t read it, we get a little closer to changing that image.

Rafaela Machado

“Someone put Bobbie Goods in the shopping cart and perhaps took the opportunity to try out a novel in the same purchase,” Rafaela concludes. “Little by little, the library space became open to more people.”

HarperCollins, the publishing house responsible for publishing in Brazil, believes that this hobby encourages contact with books and encourages the habit of reading.

“In addition to being an activity for all ages and providing a moment away from the screen, coloring books also serve as a gateway to the world of reading, sparking curiosity, attracting audiences, and taking potential new readers to bookstores. Looking at the lists, there are other types of books outside the norm, such as photography or game books, that are also in these prominent places,” the publisher said, in a note.