Fleas’ Company

The #1 book in the country is Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas by Dav Pilkey of Captain Underpants fame. It’s the fifth book in his series about a half-human, half-canine police officer, which has been gaining in popularity with each title. Cumulative print unit sales top 2.6 million copies.

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

Twice as Strong

The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jacqueline Woodson, has two new books out, one landing at the top of our children’s picture book list and the other debuting in children’s frontlist fiction.

#1 Children’s Picture Books: The Day You Begin, illustrated by two-time Pura Belpré medalist Rafael López, imagines what it’s like to be the only one in the classroom with an accent, or the one who brings food “too strange or too unfamiliar for others to love as you do,” in what our starred review called “a stirring portrait of the courage it takes to be oneself.”

#15 Children’s Frontlist Fiction: Harbor Me, Woodson’s first middle grade title since the 2014 National Book Award–winning Brown Girl Dreaming, follows six children with special needs, “showing how America’s political and social issues affect children on a daily basis,” our starred review said. “Woodson celebrates all that is essential and good for humanity—compassion, understanding, security, and freedom.”

Movie Watch

The film adaptation of Darcey Bell’s 2017 debut thriller, A Simple Favor, opens September 14. Our review, which called the book “convoluted,” was one among several less-than-positive notices, but the film’s team has attracted positive attention: Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig directs; Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect), Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively, and Crazy Rich Asians lead Henry Golding star. The tie-in debuts at #13 in trade paper.

New & Notable

The Fall of Gondolin
J.R.R. Tolkien
#2 Hardcover Fiction, #8 overall
The last of the three “great tales” of Middle-earth to be published as a standalone volume follows 2007’s Children of Húrin and 2017’s Beren and Lúthien.

The Bookshop of Yesterdays
Amy Meyerson
#16 Hardcover Fiction
A middle school teacher inherits a Los Angeles bookshop, and a mystery, in what our review called a “heartfelt debut” and “a fun homage to book lovers and the eclectic spirit of L.A.”

Winners Take All
Anand Giridharadas
#11 Hardcover Nonfiction
Giridharadas “criticizes market-based solutions to inequality devised by rich American do-gooders,” our starred review said, in his “damning portrait of contemporary American philanthropy.”

Top 10 Overall

Rank Title Author Imprint Units
1 Lord of the Fleas (Dog Man #5) Dav Pilkey Graphix 135,914
2 Girl, Wash Your Face Rachel Hollis Nelson 61,027
3 Crazy Rich Asians Kevin Kwan Anchor 40,314
4 China Rich Girlfriend Kevin Kwan Anchor 21,299
5 Texas Ranger Patterson/Bourelle Little, Brown 18,997
6 The Restless Wave McCain/Salter Simon & Schuster 18,793
7 Kristy’s Big Day (Baby-Sitters Club #6) Martin/Galligan Graphix 16,600
8 The Fall of Gondolin J.R.R. Tolkien HMH 16,226
9 The Russia Hoax Gregg Jarrett Broadside 16,119
10 Rich People Problems Kevin Kwan Anchor 16,112

All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.

Editor’s Note: This week’s print-unit sales figures include sales from an online retailer that had been unable to provide data for the weeks ended Aug. 19 and Aug. 26. NPD included those weeks’ sales in the totals for the week ended Sept. 2.