Hairy Maclary named as the bestselling book of the decade in New Zealand

Hairy Maclary From Donaldson's Dairy book cover by Lynley Dodd. Photo / Supplied

Thirty-five years after the first Hairy Maclary book first hit New Zealand shelves, the tales of six dogs and one horrible cat are still winning Kiwi hearts.

Written by Lynley Dodd and published by Puffin, Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy has been officially named as the bestselling title of the decade.

The NZ Bookshop competition included seven New Zealand novels, eight children's books and five non-fiction titles voted as favourites by Kiwi booksellers.

Numbers were taken from a decade of Nielsen BookScan data and after tallying 1775 votes, Hairy Maclary clearly came out on top with 251 total votes.

Booksellers New Zealand chief executive Lincoln Gould said it was "wonderful" to see New Zealand books were popular with readers.

"We look forward to seeing these and other Kiwi books flying off the shelves in
bookshops this Christmas," he said.

The top three books voted for were all children's books, elsewhere, Annabel Langbein: The Free-range Cook was the top New Zealand non-fiction title.

The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton, was selected by readers as the top New Zealand fiction title.

However, it's Hairy Maclary and the gang of Hercules Morse, Bottomley Potts, Muffin McLay, Bitzer Maloney, Schnitzel von Krumm and Scarface Claw, who reign supreme among New Zealand readers.