As August draws to a close, the back-to-school frisson is palpable in the US, especially when it comes to family spending. Parents and kids want to make sure they’ve stocked up on what everyone else is reading and buying, and Amazon $AMZN’s top 100 bestselling books offers a touching snapshot of the nation’s nervous first-day-of-school preparations.
For little ones, bedtime stories are tense with first-day jitters, while high schoolers and their parents are buying up classic novels by the droves, and college-bound kids appear to be forking over cash for style guides and SAT prep.
Here’s how the US is girding itself for September, in books:
George goes to school and causes trouble with some paints.
Sarah is terrified of her first day at a new school, and has to be dragged from bed.
A book of nerves, in verse: “They tossed and they turned / about in their beds / while visions of school supplies / danced in their heads.”
Extended checklists by kindergarten-bound kids.
The Amazon bestsellers list, which updates hourly, also captures American students shuffling for their lockers. While the top 100 list is usually dominated by new releases, cook books, self-help, a few classics, and recently, coloring books, right now a sizable portion of Amazon’s top sellers resemble required reading at your local high school:
And also in the top 100, the most common style guides and textbooks for the college-bound:
