"Don't Feed the Lion," authored by CNN global affairs analyst Bianna Golodryga and Israeli news anchor Yonit Levi, has sold almost 34,000 copies. Since its launch on Nov. 11, the YA book “Don’t Feed the Lion” has sold nearly 34,000 copies. That’s a massive feat for a Middle Grade fiction title, never mind one from a boutique publisher and featuring a pair of first-time authors — CNN global affairs analyst Bianna Golodryga and Israeli news anchor Yonit Levi.
Page Six Hollywood has exclusively obtained “Don’t Feed the Lion” sales data from Arcadia, the book’s publisher, which is co-owned by former Sony Pictures Entertainment chief and current Snap chairman Michael Lynton.
“I always knew it would sell well,” Lynton tells Page Six Hollywood. “But yes, I’m surprised that it’s sold in the numbers that it has. And delighted.”
Strangely, the book, which tackles antisemitic bullying in the halls of a Chicago school, hasn’t cracked the New York Times best sellers list. While the Times keeps its methodology secret, conventional wisdom in the publishing world finds that a book needs to sell roughly 3,000 to 6,000 copies in a single month to crack the Gray Lady’s Middle Grade Paperback list, which comes out monthly rather than weekly. “Don’t Feed the Lion” has exceeded that in each of the four months it has been eligible for the list and has made USA Today’s list.
In a statement, the a New York Times spokesperson said: We have a methodology we follow for all books, which is linked here.”
Golodryga is a familiar face here and abroad as she has extensively covered the Israel-Gaza conflict and the current American-Israeli military operation in Iran for CNN, and is the anchor of “One World” on CNN International. But when the CAA-repped journalist began shopping the book, she faced rejections from every publishing house. That’s when Lynton stepped in. He and his sister Lily Lynton, and a group of investors acquired Arcadia Publishing in 2018. Though Arcadia had never published a YA book before, he was willing to take the chance on “Don’t Feed the Lion.”
The plotline of the novel kicks off after a soccer star’s antisemitic statement goes viral and was inspired by events Golodryga faced in 2022. Her then-tween son became rattled after his hero, basketball star Kyrie Irving, shared antisemitic tropes on social media. “My son asked me, ‘Can I not go to games anymore? Do they not like us? Am I being excluded for being Jewish?’” she told me ahead of the book’s publication.
“Don’t Feed the Lion” has garnered support from Hollywood figures including Gal Gadot, who blurbed the book and posted praise for it on social media, as well as Sacha Baron Cohen, Robert Kraft and fellow CNN anchor Jake Tapper. (Cohen wrote: “When hatred is dressed up as opinion, we need stories that teach kids the difference. ‘Don’t Feed the Lion’ is a fierce and necessary reminder that silence is never the answer.”) Julianna Margulies will moderate a conversation with the authors at the 92nd Street Y.
When Golodryga’s son felt confusion over Irving’s outburst, mom found no help from his teachers. That’s why she has spearheaded conversations at schools in New York including Dalton, and hopes to bring the book to California next. There are also talks about adding it to curriculums.
“It has been a joy and an honor to publish the book,” says Lynton, whose own memoir just hit No. 11 on the USA Today best sellers list, but hasn’t placed on the Times chart yet either. “It’s a book that deserves to be published, and Brianna and Yonit did a brilliant job writing it and publicizing it. And I’m glad that it’s getting into the right hands.”
