This Week's Bestsellers: March 19, 2018

Movie Watch

The big-screen adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time opened March 9, and the 2007 trade paper edition is once again the #1 book in the country, with its best weekly print unit sales since its release. The tie-in edition, which pubbed in November, also saw its best weekly sales to date, hitting our top 10 for the first time; it’s at #2 in children’s frontlist fiction, and #7 in the country overall.

(See all of this week's bestselling books.)

The Shape of Oscar

The Shape of Water took home the best picture Oscar on March 4, and now a related novel by the film’s director, Guillermo del Toro, and Daniel Kraus, a YA novelist and an associate producer on the movie, debuts at #17 in hardcover fiction. In 2011, Kraus mentioned to Del Toro an idea he’d had as a teen, about a janitor who rescues the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Del Toro optioned the idea, and the pair also collaborated on the novel, which extends the film’s plot.

The tie-in edition to Call Me by Your Name, another Oscar winner, sold a total of 94K print copies before the ceremony. After James Ivory’s win for best adapted screenplay, the book had its best week yet, with more than 11K print copies sold, 65% more than the previous week. It’s up eight notches to #3 in trade paper.

Rise and Shine

A pair of books, each written by a Today host, debut on our current lists. Hoda Kotbe has the #2 picture book with her children’s debut, I’ve Loved You Since Forever, illustrated by Suzie Mason. The title is “a sweet, uncomplicated expression of love for a newborn child,” our review said, “inspired by her adoption of a baby girl in 2017.”

Kathie Lee Gifford debuts at #3 in hardcover nonfiction with The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi. Our review called it a “spiritually invigorating and informative” book that will “appeal to general readers of biblical history and ancient Jewish culture.”

New & Notable

Children of Blood and Bone
Tomi Adeyemi
#3 Children’s Frontlist Fiction
This trilogy launch by debut author Adeyemi has “complex characters, colossal stakes, and a kaleidoscopic narrative.” In 2017, the then–23-year-old Adeyemi not only landed a seven-figure publishing deal but also scored a movie deal for a similar figure.

She Persisted Around the World
Chelsea Clinton, illus. by Alexandra Boiger
#12 Picture Books
J.K. Rowling and Malala Yousafzai are among the 13 women profiled in the second collaboration between Clinton and Boiger. Print unit sales of their first book, 2017’s She Persisted, are up 190% compared with the previous week.

Top 10 Overall

All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.