Steppin’ Out
Actor and debut author Gary Sinise has the #3 book in the country with Grateful American, which our review called “a heartfelt autobiography that doubles as a love letter to the U.S. military.” Sinise, a cofounder of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, works on behalf of American veterans through his eponymous foundation and played Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, a character that proved popular with former service members: “Most of the Vietnam veterans we’d seen in films up until then were damaged. At the end, you weren’t sure if they were going to be okay,” he told PW. “What was heartwarming, I think, about this Vietnam veteran is that he is doing well at the end.”
(See all of this week's bestselling books.)
#RelationshipGoals
Thurber Prize–winning humorist John Kenney expands on his February 2016 piece for the New Yorker with Love Poems for Married People. (Sample title: “I honor you and our love but I also lost track of time at a bar with my coworkers.”) The book pubbed at the end of December and found its readership in the days leading up to V Day, debuting at #18 in hardcover nonfiction.
Love to Love You Baby
Valentine’s Day is big in the children’s book world: 18 of the 25 titles on our picture book list are overtly about the holiday or more generally about affection, usually but not always between parent and child. The #4 book in the country is Llama LLama I Love You by Anna Dewdney, #8 is Eric Carle’s Love from the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and #10 is The Biggest Valentine Ever by Steven Kroll, illustrated by Jeni Bessett. The newest title, the 2018 board book You’re My Little Cuddle Bug by Nicola Edwards, illustrated by Natalie Marshall, is #21 in picture books.
New & Notable
Under Pressure
Lisa Damour
#12 Hardcover Nonfiction
Clinical psychologist Damour offers strategies that will help parents support anxious daughters in what our review called a “remarkably thorough and accessible guide for raising girls into strong, independent women.”
Shortest Way Home
Pete Buttigieg
#13 Hardcover Nonfiction
This memoir by the 37-year-old Democratic mayor of South Bend, Ind.—an Afghanistan war veteran who recently launched an exploratory committee for a 2020 presidential bid—“is an appealing introduction of its author to a larger potential constituency,” our review said.
Top 10 Overall
| Rank | Title | Author | Imprint | Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Becoming | Michelle Obama | Crown | 59,410 |
| 2 | Brawl of the Wild (Dog Man #6) | Dav Pilkey | Graphix | 35,636 |
| 3 | Grateful American | Gary Sinise | Nelson | 31,444 |
| 4 | Llama Llama I Love You | Anna Dewdney | Viking | 31,076 |
| 5 | Girl, Wash Your Face | Rachel Hollis | Nelson | 27,364 |
| 6 | Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens | Putnam | 26,803 |
| 7 | Educated | Tara Westover | Random House | 20,782 |
| 8 | Love from the Very Hungry Caterpillar | Eric Carle | Grosset & Dunlap | 20,257 |
| 9 | The Tattooist of Auschwitz | Heather Morris | Harper | 18,402 |
| 10 | The Biggest Valentine Ever | Kroll/Bassett | Cartwheel | 18,017 |
All unit sales per NPD BookScan except where noted.
