Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming, was the biggest book of 2018. Now she’s back with a companion book to be released next month.
Random House imprint Clarkson Potter will publish the former first lady’s Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice on Nov. 19, the publisher said in a news release.
The publisher said the journal will include “more than 150 inspiring questions and quotes that resonate with key themes in Mrs. Obama’s memoir and that are designed to help readers reflect on their personal and family history, their goals, challenges, and dreams, what moves them and brings them hope, and what future they imagine for themselves and their community.”
The book, which will feature “a grosgrain ribbon and a foil-stamped cover and removable half-jacket,” seems designed to appeal to readers looking for holiday gifts. Clarkson Potter has ordered a first printing of 500,000 copies, a sign that they expect it to fly off the shelves.
In an introduction to the journal, Obama writes, “I hope you’ll use this journal to write down your experiences, thoughts, and feelings, in all their imperfections, and without judgment…. We don’t have to remember everything. But everything we remember has value.”
Obama’s memoir was a worldwide publishing phenomenon, selling more than 11 million copies across the globe. The book was part of a multi-million-dollar deal that she and her husband, former President Obama, struck with Penguin Random House.
In addition to her memoir and journal, Michelle Obama is the author of a 2012 book, American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America.
Michael Schaub is an Austin, Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
