Is Grand Central betting Nicholas Sparks's next weepie will outsell John Grisham's new comic novel? That's the story their print runs tell (respectively, 1.5 million and 900,000). In nonfiction, former Fed chief Alan Greenspan will test his mettle against Christian megaseller Max Lucado—both have million-copy first printings. And don't discount latecomer Bill Clinton's altruistic prescriptions, or award-season jockeying by literary favorites Ann Patchett, Richard Russo, Denis Johnson and Junot Díaz. Children's highlights include new novels from Newbery Medalists E.L. Konigsburg and Avi, and a YA debut from Sherman Alexie.

| SEPTEMBER 1 |The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ by Lee Strobel (Zondervan, $21.99). 200,000 copies.*I Am Invited to a Party! and There Is a Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems (Hyperion, $8.99 each). 125,000 copies each.* When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg (Zondervan, $21.99). 125,000 copies.*Hero by Perry Moore (Hyperion, $16.99). 100,000 copies.*The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown, $16.99). 100,000 copies.*The Boys' Book and The Girls' Book: How to Be the Best at Everything by Dominique Enright and Guy Macdonald, illus. by Niki Catlow (Scholastic Nonfiction, $9.99). 100,000 copies each.*Into the Mist by Patrick Carman (Scholastic Press, $11.99). 100,000 copies.| SEPTEMBER 3 |
*Curious George Discovery Day (Houghton, $13.95). 150,000 copies.
| SEPTEMBER 4 |
Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton (Knopf, $24.95). 750,000 copies.
*Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (Hyperion, $16.99). 250,000 copies.
* The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World, 1788—1800 by Jay Winik (HarperCollins, $29.96). 150,000 copies.
* Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27). 100,000 copies.
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26). 100,000 copies.
Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming by Bjorn Lomborg (Knopf, $21.95). 75,000 copies.
*The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman (Norton, $23.95). 50,000 copies.
Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself by Alan Alda (Random, $24.95).
| SEPTEMBER 6 |
Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites That Ruled Texas Football by Jim Dent (St. Martin's/Dunne, $24.95). 100,000 copies.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Riverhead, $24.95). 80,000 copies.
* For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions by James R. Gaines (Norton, $29.95). 50,000 copies.
| SEPTEMBER 10 |
You've Been Warned by James Patterson and Howard Roughan (Little, Brown, $27.99). 1 million copies.
*Peek in My Pocket by David A. Carter and Sarah Weeks (Harcourt/Red Wagon, $10.95). 100,000 copies.
| SEPTEMBER 11 |
3:16: The Numbers of Hope by Max Lucado (Thomas Nelson, $24.99). 1 million copies.
The War: An Intimate History, 1941—1945 by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns (Knopf, $50). 650,000 copies.
The Taste of Home Cookbook: Timeless Recipes from Trusted Home Cooks (Reader's Digest, $29.95). 500,000 copies.
The Taste of Home Baking Book: Timeless Recipes from Trusted Home Cooks (Reader's Digest, $29.95). 300,000 copies.
Power to the People by Laura Ingraham (Regnery, $27.95). 250,000 copies.
Pontoon: A Lake Wobegon Novel by Garrison Keillor (Viking, $25.95). 200,000 copies.
Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches by John Dean (Viking, $25.95). 150,000 copies.
*Judy Moody & Stink: The Holly Joliday by Megan McDonald, illus. by Peter H. Reynolds (Candlewick, $14.99). 100,000 copies.
*Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson, illus. by Jane Chapman (Simon & Schuster/McElderry, $16.99). 100,000 copies.
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature by Steven Pinker (Viking, $29.95). 100,000 copies.
| SEPTEMBER 17 |
The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World by Alan Greenspan (Penguin Press, $35). 1 million copies.
Dead Heatby Dick Francis and Felix Francis (Putnam, $25.95). 350,000 copies.
Dave Barry's History of the Millennium (So Far) by Dave Barry (Putnam, $22.95). 175,000 copies.
Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism by Jenny McCarthy (Dutton, $23.95).
| SEPTEMBER 18 |
* The Nixie's Song (Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles) by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi (Simon & Schuster, $10.99). 350,000 copies.
The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine, $25.95). 225,000 copies.
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin (Doubleday, $27.95). 150,000 copies.
Making Money by Terry Pratchett (HarperCollins, $25.95). 150,000 copies.
When You Need a Lift: But Don't Want to Eat Chocolate, Pay a Shrink, or Drink a Bottle of Gin by Joy Behar (Crown, $19.95). 100,000 copies.
**Iron Thunder by Avi (Hyperion, $15.99). 100,000 copies.
*The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh (Hyperion, $17.99). 100,000 copies.
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein (Metropolitan, $27.50). 100,000 copies.
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $15). 75,000 copies.
Other Colors: Essays and a Story by Orhan Pamuk (Knopf, $27.95). 60,000 copies.
A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Free-Thinking Redneck by Trace Adkins (Ballantine, $17.95).
| SEPTEMBER 20 |
What on Earth Have I Done?: Stories, Observations, and Affirmations by Robert Fulghum (St. Martin's, $22.95). 100,000 copies.
| SEPTEMBER 24 |
The Choice by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central, $24.99). 1.5 million copies.
| SEPTEMBER 25 |
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham (Doubleday, $21.95). 900,000 copies.
Dark of the Moon by John Sandford (Putnam, $26.95). 500,000 copies.
*The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam (Hyperion, $35). 300,000 copies.
Shoot Him if He Runs by Stuart Woods (Putnam, $25.95). 300,000 copies.
The Vixen Diaries by Karrine Steffans (Grand Central, $24.99). 200,000 copies.
Run by Ann Patchett (HarperCollins, $25.95). 200,000 copies.
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo (Knopf, $26.95). 200,000 copies.
*Disney Fairies: Pixie Hollow Pop-Up by Kitty Richards (Disney Press, $19.99). 150,000 copies.
*How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Party Edition by Dr. Seuss (Random, $14). 150,000 copies.
*The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg (Atheneum/Seo, $16.99). 100,000 copies.
*Enchanted: The Movie Storybook by Sarah Nathan (Disney Press, $8.99). 100,000 copies.
*The Mistmantle Chronicles Book Three: The Heir of Mistmantle by M.I. McAllister (Hyperion/Miramax, $17.99). 100,000 copies.
Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control and Disease by Gary Taubes (Knopf, $27.95). 100,000 copies.
*600 Black Spots by David A. Carter (Little Simon, $19.99). 100,000 copies.
*Before I Die by Jenny Downham (Random/Fickling, $15.99). 100,000 copies.
*Barnstormers: Tales of the Travelin' Nine: Game 2 by Phil Bildner, illus. by Loren Long (Simon & Schuster, $10.99). 100,000 copies.
Fire in the Blood by Irène Némirovsky (Knopf, $22). 75,000 copies.

—With reporting by Raya Kuzyk and Diane Roback

* = PW starred review

* = Children's titles