Jacqueline Wilson was the most borrowed author from UK libraries in 2006, figures show.
Titles by the children's writer were lent almost two million times between July 2005 and June 2006.
Wilson's nearest rivals were the adult novelists, James Patterson, Josephine Cox, Danielle Steel and Ian Rankin.
The figures were released by the Public Lending Right (PLR), an organization which distributes funds to authors whose books are borrowed by library users.
US thriller writer Patterson is the UK's second most borrowed author, consigning romantic novelists Cox and Steel to third and fourth places respectively.
Scottish crime writer Rankin moves up from eighth to fifth place.
Children's, young adult and educational books represent 31 per cent of all books borrowed nationally, according to the PLR.
Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code was the most borrowed book from British libraries last year.
JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was the second most borrowed book nationally, with Maeve Binchy's Nights of Rain and Stars and Patricia Cornwell's Trace taking third and fifth places respectively.
Wilson, 61, has now topped the most borrowed author list for four consecutive years.
More than 20 million copies of Wilson's books have been sold in the UK, an article on Wikipedia claims.
In June 2002, Wilson was awarded an OBE for services to literacy in schools.
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