’White Fragility’ is Petaluma’s bestselling book this week

Petaluma’s Bestsellers: Explorations of race and inequality continue to fascinate local book readers.|

The top selling titles at Copperfield’s Books, in Petaluma, for the week of June 22 –June 29, 2020.

“For those of us who work to raise the racial consciousness of whites, simply getting whites to acknowledge that our race gives us advantages is a major effort. The defensiveness, denial, and resistance are deep,” states author Robin DiAngelo in her bestselling book, “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.”

If you are a book-buying resident of Petaluma, it’s possible you’ve already read DiAngelo’s eye-opening exploration of race and privilege in America - or at least bought it (and no, it’s not the same thing; do read it, because it’s a remarkable piece of writing). As Petaluma’s current collective literary exploration of race and racism continues, a stellar assortment of race-themed books have traded places with last week’s equally mind-shifting slate of similarly timely titles.

Replacing Ijeoma Oluo’s “So You Want to Talk About Race?” in the No 1 spot on Copperfield’s Fiction and Nonfiction list this week is DiAngelo’s much-discussed 2018 bestseller. In the No. 2 spot is 2019’s “How to be an Antiracist,” by Ibram Kendi, who also claims the No. 4 spot with “Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.” Kendi is the Founding Director of The Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University in Washington, D.C. He is also a 2019 Guggenheim fellow, and a bestselling author whose enormous body of work includes the recently released picture book “Antiracist Baby.”

Filling in the top five are editor Jesmyn Ward’s 2017 essay anthology “The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race” (No. 3) and Celeste Ng’s novel “Little Fires Everywhere” (No. 5), which inspired the popular Hulu series starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon.

Meanwhile, on the Kids and Young Adults list, the No. 1 title this week, repeating last week’s performance at the top of the pack, is Janae Marks’ 2020 riveting and delightful YA novel “From the Desk of Zoe Washington.”

It’s followed by Lucy Knisley’s graphic novel “Stepping Stones” (No. 2), Margaret Wise Brown’s deliciously soporific classic “Goodnight Moon” (No. 3), Michael Grant’s “Gone” (No. 4), the original novel in his bestselling nine-part series of dystopian, sci-fi gut-crunchers, and in the No. 5 spot, the Newberry-winning “New Kid” by Jerry Craft.

FICTION & NONFICTION

1. ‘White Fragility,’ by Robin DiAngelo

2. ‘How to Be an Antiracist,’ by Ibram X. Kendi

3. ‘The Fire This Time,’ edited by Jesmyn Ward

4. ‘Stamped from the Beginning,’ by Ibram X. Kendi

5. ‘Little Fires Everywhere,’ by Celeste Ng

6. ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,’ by Charlie Macksey

7. ‘The Overstory,’ by Richard Powers

8. ‘Normal People,’ by Sally Rooney

9. ‘The Lost Queen,’ by Signe Pike

10. ‘Tidelands,’ by Philippa Gregory

'FROM THE DESK OF ZOE WASHINGTON' - Janae Marks YA novel is the No. 1 bestselling Kids and Young Adults book in Petaluma this week.
'FROM THE DESK OF ZOE WASHINGTON' - Janae Marks YA novel is the No. 1 bestselling Kids and Young Adults book in Petaluma this week.

KIDS & YOUNG ADULTS

1. ‘From the Desk of Zoe Washington,’ by Janae Marks

2. ‘Stepping Stones,’ by Lucy Knisley

3. ‘Goodnight Moon,’ by Margaret Wise Brown

4. ‘Gone,’ by Michael Grant

5. ‘New Kid,’ by Jerry Craft

6. ‘Emmie & Friends: Becoming Brianna,’ by Teri Libenson

7. ‘Drama,’ by Raina Teglemeier

8. ‘The Day You Begin,’ by Jacqueline Woodson

9. ‘She Persisted,’ by Chelsea Clinton

10. ‘The Hate U Give,’ by Angie Thomas

(Data compiled by Amber-Rose Reed, Manager of Copperfield’s Books, Petaluma)

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