THE LINEUP: Penguin

Hey everyone!  I'm starting a mini-feature here at Hope's Bookshelf that will last the next few weeks.  I'm calling it "The Lineup."  Basically what it will be is this:  I'm finding what I think are the sweet looking books from each publishers early 2011 line-up.  Simple and fun, right? :)


Today I have the cool looking books from Penguins early 2011 lineup.  These books will publish between January and April 2011.


Before I start, I just want to make it known that I have not read these books, nor do I have any of these books.  They only things I've read about them are their summaries, and that's how I picked which ones would be put on this list.


So, without further ado, here is my lineup for Penguin:

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer

There’s nothing like a warm muffin for curing the blues!

Foster McFee dreams of having her own cooking show like her idol, celebrity chef Sonny Kroll.  Macon Dillard’s goal is to be a documentary filmmaker.  Foster’s mother Rayka longs to be a headliner  instead of a back-up singer. And Miss Charleena plans  a triumphant return to Hollywood. Everyone has a dream, but nobody is even close to famous in the little town of Culpepper. Until some unexpected events shake the town and its inhabitants—and put

their big ambitions to the test. Full of humor, unforgettable characters, surprises, and lots and lots of heart, this is Joan Bauer at her most engaging.

Release Date: February 3, 2011 from Viking.

Leverage by Joshua Cohen

The playing field becomes a battlefield in a highly charged debut.

There’s an extraordinary price for victory at Anooka High. It is paid on—and off—the football field. And it claims its victims without mercy—including the most innocent bystanders. An unlikely friendship between Kurt, a talented but emotionally damaged fullback, and Danny, a promising gymnast, is at the heart of an increasingly violent, steroid-infused power struggle.

When the unthinkable happens, they must look to each other for salvation in a heart-pounding, gut-wrenching story that will stay with readers long after they turn the last page.

Told in alternating voices and with unapologetic truth, Leverage illuminates the fierce loyalty, flawed justice, and hard-won optimism of two young athletes.

Release Date: February 17, 2011 from Dutton.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (sequel to If I Stay.)

It’s been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life forever. Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard’s rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. 

As they explore the city that has become Mia’s home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future—and each other. Told from Adam’s point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

(The cover is not final at this time.)

Release Date: April 19, 2011 from Dutton.

Head Games (A PrettyTOUGH novel) - Keri Milkulski

(Other novels in the series: Pretty Tough and Playing with the Boys.)

The PrettyTOUGH series is back—and this time, the girls take it to the hoop!

Taylor is calm, cool, collected, and ferocious on the basketball court. A total all-star. Not so much in real life. She may be tall, gorgeous, and an incredible catch, but just try telling her that!

And lately, Taylor doesn’t know which way to turn: The summer showcase game is almost here. Her BFF Hannah roped her into a fashion show (eek!). And she can’t decide between Zach—the super-popular, super-tall, super-off-limits basketball dynamo—and Matt—the sweet boy from her math class (who may just be dating her BFF’s older sister). It’s enough to

make any girl’s head spin!

Can Taylor strike a pose, land the boy of her dreams, and win the game?

(Cover not yet final.)

Release Date: January 6, 2011 from Razorbill.

Subject Seven by James A Moore

Impossibly strong. Brutally violent. Smarter than his captors. Subject Seven has escaped.

Years ago, scientists began developing the ultimate military weapon: deadly sleeper assassins housed within the bodies of teenagers. Now, Subject Seven, the dangerous alter-ego living inside a 16-year-old boy, has escaped the lab and is on a mission. 

His objective? To seek out others like him and build an army capable of destroying their creators. Hunter, Cody, Gene, Tina, and Kylie: five teenagers leading typical lives, until the day they each receive a call from a mysterious stranger—and learn that their destinies are intertwined. Subject Seven holds the key that connects them all. And a vicious, bloody

battle for their lives is just beginning.

Release Date: January 25, 2011 from Razorbill.

The Locket by Stacey Jay

The Locket promises a second chance…but at what cost?

On her seventeenth birthday, Katie discovers a locket and decides to wear it for good luck. But when her boyfriend Isaac finds out she cheated on him— with their mutual best friend Mitch, no less—he dumps her, leaving her devastated. 

And then a miracle happens. The locket burns on Katie’s chest and she feels herself going back two weeks in time, to the night she cheated with Mitch. At first, Kate is delighted to be a better girlfriend to Isaac this time around. But as other aspects of her life become inexplicably altered, she realizes that changing the past may have had a dangerous effect on her present.

Can she make things right before the locket destroys everything—and everyone—she loves?

Release Date: February 3, 2011 from Razorbill.

Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman

Find out what boys really think!

When high school junior Natalie—or Dr. Aphrodite, as she calls herself when writing the relationship column for her school paper—is accused of knowing nothing about guys and giving girls bad relationship advice, she decides to investigate what guys really think and want. But the guys in her class won’t give her straight or serious answers. 

The only solution? Disguising herself as a guy and spending a week at Underwood Academy, the private all-boy boarding school in town. There she learns a lot about guys and girls in ways she never expected—especially when she falls for her dreamy roommate, Emilio. How can she show him she likes him without blowing her cover?

Release Date: February 17, 2011 from Dial.

So there you go!  Those are the books I'm looking forward to very much from Penguin's Spring 2011 line-up. :)

hope.