What is the longest book in the world?

Biggest, Tallest, Fastest

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by Kate Simmons >> more about the author

It can be quite fun to look through books at the library and shop for treasures at a book store! Books come in all shapes and sizes. Some books are long and some are short. What is the longest book in the world? Some say it is an encyclopedia called the Yongle Dadian. In the early 1400s, a group of 3,000 scholars in the country of China came together to create this information-packed book.

The The Yongle Dadian was written during a powerful time in Chinese history called the Yongle Period. At this time China was ruled by Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty. He is sometimes called the Yongle Emperor—you can see how this book got the name Yongle Dadian, which means “vast (many) documents of the Yongle Era.” The encyclopedia has 11,095 volumes and nearly 23,000 chapters!

When it comes to longest novel (story), not everyone may agree on the winner, but Guinness World Records awards the honor to the book A la Recherche du Temps Perdu (“Remembrance of Things Past”) by French author Marcel Proust. This book is 9,609,000 characters long, which includes letters and spaces!

What is the longest book in your home? Can you tell by looking at the number of pages and size of the print? Start with the books on your shelf. What is the longest children’s book you own? Next, ask a grown-up to help you find the longest book at your house. Is the book a story? A dictionary? An encyclopedia? Happy hunting!