Shooting Star

The #2 book in the country is Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium and a telegenic science advocate. He’s written numerous books that have sold well over the long haul, but first-week sales for the new book are by far his best to date.

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

Kids’ Corner

It’s a big week for children’s titles, with new picture books, middle grade novels, and YA fiction all hitting our lists. Of these, four books topped 10K in print unit sales.

The Dark Prophecy Rick Riordan #1 Children’s Frontlist Fiction, #1 overall
A Court of Wings and Ruin Sarah J. Maas #2 Children’s Frontlist Fiction, #2 overall
Dragons Love Tacos 2 Rubin/Salmieri #2 Children’s Picture Books
Way of the Warrior Kid Willink/Bozak #5 Children’s Frontlist Fiction

Failing Up

Bunmi Laditan’s fiction debut, Confessions of a Domestic Failure, lands at #6 on our Trade Paperback list. She’s the adult behind the Honest Toddler Twitter account (326K followers), plus she’s got two nonfiction books of humor to her name: 2013’s The Honest Toddler (14K hardcover and trade paperback copies sold) and 2015’s Toddlers Are A**holes (68K hardcover copies sold). Our review said that her novel “will strike a hysterical and compassionate chord with new moms.” Next up: Laditan aims to entertain her adult fans’ children with a picture book, The Big Bed, illustrated by Tom Knight and scheduled for February 2018.

New & Notable

Into the Water
Paula Hawkins
#2 Hardcover Fiction, #6 overall
Our review said that in this follow-up to the 2015 blockbuster The Girl on the Train, “Hawkins may be juggling a few too many story lines for comfort, but the payoff packs a satisfying punch.”

Women Who Work
Ivanka Trump
#9 Hardcover Nonfiction
The first daughter releases a business book about, in the words of the subtitle, “Rewriting the Rules for Success.” For a preview of next season’s business titles, including several addressing women, check out our business-books feature in the May 22 issue.

Top 10 Overall

Rank Title Author Imprint Units
1 The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo #2) Rick Riordan Disney-Hyperion 62,987
2 Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Neil deGrasse Tyson Norton 48,416
3 16th Seduction Patterson/Paetro Little, Brown 47,119
4 A Court of Wings and Ruin Sarah J. Maas Bloomsbury 44,689
5 Option B Sandberg/Grant Knopf 40,965
6 Into the Water Paula Hawkins Riverhead 38,687
7 Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Dr. Seuss Random House 32,939
8 Shattered Allen/Parnes Crown 28,520
9 Against All Odds Danielle Steel Delacorte 26,464
10 Everything, Everything Nicola Yoon Ember 24,192

All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.