Keep the Home Fires Burning
Debut author Angeline Boulley lands at #8 on our children’s fiction list with Firekeeper’s Daughter, a YA thriller. The book, recently selected for Reese’s YA Book Club, “[hits] hard when it comes to issues such as citizenship, language revitalization, and the corrosive presence of drugs on Native communities,” our starred review said, praising its “sharp turns and charming characters.” In a prepub interview with PW, Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, described her protagonist, 18-year-old Daunis Fontaine, as an “Indigenous Nancy Drew,” but she didn’t set out to write a novel for young readers. “I think what makes it YA is that at its core is a question about identity—a young person trying to find their place in the world and what that means for them.”
Winning Them Back
Harlan Coben has the #2 book in the country with his latest standalone thriller, Win. Coben’s previous standalone, The Boy from the Woods, published on Mar. 17, 2020, as shutdown orders began taking hold nationwide. With the new book, first-week print unit sales are back to pre-pandemic levels.
Help Me Help You
Spring cleaning for the psyche: a trio of self-help titles debut on our hardcover nonfiction list.
#5 No Pain, No Gaines by Fixer Upper’s Chip Gaines. “There are a lot of books out there about ‘networking,’ ” he writes. “I am more interested in ‘network’ the noun, the group of people with beating hearts and passions who live and love and try and fail, and who are there beside you as you do the same.”
#6 Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab. A relationship therapist with 868K Instagram followers “debuts with a comprehensive guide on how to understand and establish interpersonal boundaries,” our review said, walking readers through a variety of real-world scenarios.
#14 LifeLines by Melissa Bernstein, cofounder (with her husband) of the toy company Melissa & Doug. Her mental health struggles led the Bernsteins to launch LifeLines, a hub for an app, podcast, video series, and more, all free.
NEW & NOTABLE
ROWLEY JEFFERSON'S AWESOME FRIENDLY SPOOKY STORIES
Jeff Kinney
#1 Children’s Fiction, #1 overall
The Wimpy Kid’s best friend returns with comedic tales of zombies, vampires, and ghosts.
THIS IS THE FIRE
Don Lemon
#1 Hardcover Nonfiction, #3 overall
“CNN host Lemon ruminates in this lyrical yet diffuse account on the legacy of white supremacy in America,” our review said. “Readers will savor the well-honed language, but wish for stronger substance.”
EAT BETTER, FEEL BETTER
Giada De Laurentiis
#3 Hardcover Nonfiction,
#9 overall
The Food Network personality and author of several previous cookbooks shares lifestyle advice and recipes. “My approach minimizes foods known to cause inflammation and nurtures the delicate ecosystem of the gut,” she writes, “rather than stressing it out with toxins and irritants.”
