I’d been feeling a bit guilty about Penguin recently. If my calculations are correct (and I think that they are) I haven’t been to a Penguin preview since April of 2010. The timing just never worked out! I do hold down a 9-5 job in the library, after all, so angling my free days to be on preview days doesn’t always work out for me. Fortunately I was able to make up for my missing mug at the most recent librarian preview so as to see the goodies and not be caught in the cold when something like A Tale Dark & Grimm comes down the pike (one of the books I missed hearing about last year).
Preparations this time around included:
- A promise to myself not to eat ALL the desserts on the dessert table at lunch.
- A orange concoction placed in my purse that I would have to drink at precisely 1:30 for my doctor’s appointment. It’s a pregnant thing. There’s a test they do where they make you chug what essentially amounts to a drink that has more in common with that horrid orange pop McDonalds used to serve when I was a kid (not quite juice, not quite good) only warm and flat.
But enough of that! You want to hear about books, and I want to tell you about what’s on the roster. To the previewing!
Dutton Children’s Books
Lauren Myracle. Is there a nicer gal in the business? Place your bets now, but I’m telling you that I have the inside track on this one. Lauren’s the sweetest, hands down. There are some authors out there you just feel grateful to the universe for properly appreciating (“properly appreciating” = “allows them to make a living at writing”). Lauren is one such person. I say all this in preparation of the glorious news that she has a new book out in her Winnie Perry series. Ten will be a prequel to the books Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, and Thirteen Plus One. Think of it as the thing Phyllis Reynolds Naylor did with her Alice series. Actually this particular series is now being rebranded “The Winnie Years”, so be warned librarians. When desperate ten-year-olds cling to your leg demanding a particular book in “that Winnie series” know now what that will actually mean. By the way, any idea who the cover artist is on these books? Seems to me that this person deserves some of the credit for the popularity of the series. Or at the very least, the look.
You’re not gonna get a whole lot of young adult books out of me this time around, but I feel obligated to mention Nova Ren Suma’s upcoming novel Imaginary Girls, in part because her de
Thank you, thank you for the preview, Betsy!
And OMG READ DADDY LONG LEGS! Judy Abbot is one of my best literary friends!
I’d recognize Elena Kalis’s underwater photography, and her beautiful redheaded model anywhere! Of course, I’m a little obsessed with underwater covers right now…
Man, that LUMINOUS cover is awesome – talk about standing out on the shelves! Kudos to the designer for that one.
I don’t know what’s up with the flattop either but still very excited about Ellray Jakes. I thought the most dramatic postion in soccer was Striker.
I loved Griff Carver Hallway Patrol. It was so good.
Hmm… I’m intrigued by a lot but what really makes my gears turn is the idea of numbering Redwall. I assume it will be publishing order because that is what Jacques always encouraged but I have known some who preferred chronological and so it seems almost odd to make them stationary.
Wow. That is an excellent point. Will they pull a C.S. Lewis on him or not is the question, right? That hadn’t even occurred to me. Here’s hoping for the publishing order, I think.
Betsy, you MUST read “Daddy Long Legs”! I read it for the first time last year and it instantly became an all time favorite, up there with Oz tales and “Little Women”. Judy is the best!
Wow, is that British version of Al Capone for real? That is just wrong……
Thanks for the shout out about A Good Knight’s Rest. I am so excited that it is finally coming out.
And yes, I totally agree with you! We need more easy readers! Believe me, I am working on it.
I did hear that Dutton is going to start re-releasing the first three Good Knights in the Fall (paperback, I think) Yay!
Shelley
Betsy, it looks like Ellray Jakes will be a series (or at least, have a sequel). Baker and Taylor is showing a second book to be released in September (Ellray Jakes is a Rock Star). Thanks, as always, for writing up the previews.