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Color Him Beaming
Daisy Maryles -- 3/16/98
This week marks the one-year anniversary of The Color of Water on PW's trade paper list; of particular note is the fact that during nearly all of those weeks, James McBride's book has not slipped below the #10 slot. Riverhead published the title in February with a 41,000-copy first printing and has since gone back to press 26 times, for an in-print total of 700,000 copies. The memoir by writer-jazz musician McBride-about life with his mother, a white woman who raised her 12 black children-was published in hardcover in 1996, also by Riverhead, to fine reviews. Publicity included profiles of mother and son on Dateline NBC and NPR; a recent visit to The Rosie O'Donnell Show provided a sales boost that propelled the trade paper edition into the top five. The author packed bookstores from Richmond, Va., to San Francisco on his recent eight-city tour, hitting local bestseller lists in every city he visited. McBride continues to travel across the country speaking at bookstores, universities and Jewish community centers (his mother was born Jewish and was raised in the South). Recent publicity has included a piece on A&E's Open Book and an interview on Joan Rivers's radio program.

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