The Penguin Young Readers Group celebrated the holidays with their librarian and teacher friends with good cheer, a host of spring titles to get excited about, and the good news of a launch of a new imprint, Kathy Dawson Books (@KathyDawsonBks). Dawson, a publishing veteran of over twenty years, was most recently vice president and editorial director for the Dial Books for Young Readers imprint. KathyDawson Books, which will focus on middle and young adult fiction, launches with The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage. This humorous detective/ghost tale is a companion to Turnage's  Newbery Honor title Three Times Lucky (Dial, 2012).

Libraries and librarians took center stage at the preview not only as attendees but also as book topics and authors. Both Gayle Rosengren (@GayleRosengren) and Bethany Hagen (@Bethany_Hagen) are debut authors who have worked as librarians; both books drop in February. Hagen is a librarian in Kansas City with a hot cop husband (according to her Twitter) and Rosengren worked as a YA librarian. Rosengren's What the Moon Said (Putnam) is a middle school story set in depression-era Wisconsin, while Hagen’s Landry Park (Dial) is described as a dystopian Downton Abbey. Meanwhile, Django Wexler’s (@DjangoWexler) The Forbidden Library (Dawson), out in April, is the first book of his new middle school fantasy series. Also out in April is a memoir from real-life high school sophomore Maya Van Wagen (@mayavanwagen) that features a hero librarian. Popular: Vintage Wisdom for the Modern Geek (Dutton) has already landed a $300,000 movie deal.

Van Wagen isn’t the only teen author on Penguin's spring list. Jake Marcionette, a 13-year-old debut author, will release Just Jake (Grosset & Dunlap) in February; it's the start of a new series about the trials and tribulations of a sixth grader at a new school.

For younger kids, several titles will be debuting just in time for such notable dates as Lincoln’s Birthday, Easter, Father’s Day, and Poetry Month.

In January, I am Abraham Lincoln (Dial) by Brad Meltzer (@BradMeltzer) and Christopher Eliopoulos becomes the newest addition to the Ordinary People Change the World series, while Deborah Underwood’s (@underwoodwriter) and Claudia Rueda’s (@ClaudiaRueda) Here Comes the Easter Cat (Dial),s a holiday book with twist, hits the shelves. In April, Following Papa’s Song (Viking) by Gianna Marino debuts; it's a great title for celebrating Earth Day that month or Father's Day in June, and might also be a good way to introduce the study of whales in the classroom. April is also Poetry Month and one should note the release of poet Marilyn Nelson’s How I Discovered Poetry (Dial), a memoir in which she has gathered and discusses 50 poems. In addition, Douglas Florian—in the vein of Shel Silverstein—has written and illustrated 170 humorous poems based on the day-to-day lives of kids in Poem Depot: Aisles of Smiles (Dial, February). And Tomie dePaola has illustrated Little Poems for Tiny Ears (Nancy Paulsen, February), a book of poems by Lin Oliver for very young children.

Lin Oliver (@linoliver) has also again teamed up with Henry "The Fonz" Winkler (@twinkler4real) to create a new "Hank Zipzer" series. Hank is now in second grade in the series’ first book Here’s Hank: Bookmarks are People Too! (Grosset & Dunlap, February). Hank has trouble learning and the text font of the book was specifically selected with the dyslexic in mind. In the nonfiction department, the recent passing of Nelson Mandela makes the addition of Who Was Nelson Mandela? to Grosset & Dunlap's "Who Was" series especially welcome. Putnam is also debuting The Soccer Fence: a Story of Friendship, Hope and Apartheid in South Africa by Phil Bildner (@PhilBildner). Not as well known as Mandela is Janet Collins, a pioneering black ballerina.  Kristy Dempsey and Floyd Cooper have chronicled her young life in A Dance Like Starlight (Philomel), which debuts in January, in plenty of time for Black History Month in February. The lovers of the Boxcar Children may welcome Wendy McClure’s (@Wendy_Mc) Wanderville (Razorbill, January, the first book in a new historical fiction series featuring orphan train runaways. Other upcoming historic fiction titles about to debut are Tsarina (Razorbill, February by J. Nelle Patrick (@JNellePatrick) and Jackson Pierce and Sharon Biggs Waller’s (@Sbiggswaller) A Mad Wicked Folly (Viking, January, which features an Edwardian heroine paying the price for posing nude.

Penguin has two  more titles that may cause a stir, both from Dutton. Grasshopper Jungle (February) by Andrew Smith (@marburyjack) is a frank explicit book that tackles sexual identity, the end of the world, and many other eyebrow-raising issues. And This Star Won’t Go Out (January) is the posthumous memoir of Ester Earl, the girl who inspired John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton, 2012); surely it will find a following amongst the fans of Green's novel and new fans alike. 

Well-known authors also make appearance on this season's list. Laurie Halse Anderson (@asklaurie) will release The Impossible Knife of Memory (Viking, January), described as the spiritual successor to Speak (FSG, 1999), while Lauren Myracle adds another adventure to her “The Life of Ty” series with Non-Random Acts of Kindness (Dutton, April). Our wonderful preview day at Penguin day closed with an appearance by renowned artist and author Maira Kalman. She discussed the research for her latest nonfiction book, Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Everything (Nancy Paulsen, January), which revealed that, like her, he suffered from migraines. She also learned that the “monumental man had monumental flaws" but, she told the rapt audience, she came through the experience learning to admire him.