PRH to Release Both BECOMING Young Reader Edition and BECOMING Trade Paperback on March 2
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BECOMING, the #1 international bestselling memoir by former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama, will be published in two new editions by Penguin Random House on March 2, 2021. The news was shared this morning in a special video on Mrs. Obama’s social media and can be viewed here.
A Young Reader edition, adapted for children ages 10 and up and featuring a special introduction by the author and three full-color photographic inserts, will be released in hardcover by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books. A trade paperback edition of the original memoir, including a new introduction by the author, a letter from Mrs. Obama to her younger self, and a book club guide featuring 20 discussion questions and a 5-question Q&A, will be simultaneously issued by Crown, an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. Both editions will carry a suggested list price of $18.99.
With the Young Reader edition of BECOMING, Michelle Obama tells her full story for a new generation with the honesty and candor that is her trademark. In sharing her joys and triumphs alongside the bumps, bruises, and challenges she has encountered along the way, Mrs. Obama invites readers to realize that no one is perfect, and that the process of becoming is what matters, as finding yourself is ever evolving. In telling her own story with boldness, she asks young readers: Who are you, and what do you want to become?
As Mrs. Obama writes in her introduction to the Young Reader edition, “Growing up on the South Side of Chicago in the 1960s and ’70s, my parents, Fraser and Marian Robinson, always kept it straight with me and my brother, Craig. They never sugarcoated hard truths or presented their reality as anything other than what it was—because they knew we could handle it. I want to give you all that same respect.
“So my promise to you is to give you my story in all its messy glory—from the time I struggled in front of my kindergarten class, to my first kiss and the insecurities I felt growing up, to the chaos of a campaign trail, to the strange experience of shaking hands with the Queen of England. . . . I hope that as you’re reading my story, you’ll also think about your own—because it’s the most beautiful gift you’ll ever have.”
The hardcover release of Michelle Obama’s BECOMING in 2018 was a global publishing event. Michelle Obama invited readers into her world for the first time, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, and from her time spent in the White House as First Lady of the United States to her transition back to life as a private citizen. Critically acclaimed for its striking candor and honesty, the book was selected as an Oprah’s Book Club pick and received an NAACP Image Award, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide in all formats. The hardcover edition has appeared for more than 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The audiobook edition, read by Mrs. Obama, received the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album, and a documentary chronicling Mrs. Obama’s unprecedented 34-city stadium book tour received international critical acclaim when it premiered on Netflix in May 2020.
While in the White House and in the years since, Michelle Obama has become an extraordinary role model, particularly for women and girls, and these new editions of BECOMING offer a unique opportunity for readers, young and old, to have a shared dialogue based on her timeless and honest wisdom.
The BECOMING Young Reader edition will simultaneously be published in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand by Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Random House Children’s at Penguin Random House UK; in Germany by cbj Verlag, an imprint of Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe; in Brazil by Seguinte, an imprint of Companhia das Letras; and in Spain and Latin America by Montena, an imprint of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, with a Portuguese edition to be released by Nuvem de Tinta later that month. Viking, an imprint of Penguin General at Penguin Random House UK, will release the paperback edition of BECOMING in the UK and Commonwealth on March 2.