After dozens of Best Books of 2011 lists, the Atlantic looks ahead to fifteen titles to look forward to in 2012, January through the early fall.

John is not actually leaking, but his upcoming book is. The Fault in Our Stars is scheduled for release on January 10th, but some copies were mistakenly shipped from BN.com, according to John on his Tumblr site.

As with any news about this book, it resulted in a rise on both Amazon and B&N’s sales rankings.

The Fault in Our Stars John Green Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Dutton Juvenile – (2012-01-10) ISBN / EAN: 0525478817 / 9780525478812

The current issue of Glamour magazine features an interview with Breaking Dawn star Kristen Stewart. The interviewer is Stephenie Meyer, who, in addition to writing the Twilight Saga book series, is a producer on the film.

Meyer has formed her own production company, Fickle Fish Films, which wrapped filming last month on its debut effort, Austenland, a romantic comedy based on the first adult title by Newbery Honor Medalist (Princess Academy) Shannon Hale. About a woman who gets to live out her obsession with the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by going to a Jane Austen fantasy camp, it stars Keri Russell, JJ Feild and Bret McKenzie, along with Jennifer Coolidge and Jane Seymour. Filming has wrapped in England, but no release date has been set.

A follow-up to the book, Midnight in Austenland, is coming Jan. 31. Also in the works is Hale’s untitled sequel to the Princess Academy, coming in August, 2012.

Midnight in Austenland: A Novel Shannon Hale Retail Price: $24.00 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA – (2012-01-31) ISBN / EAN: 1608196259 / 9781608196258

If you haven’t had any coffee yet, the video below should wake you up.

If you’re already feeling a bit jittery, here’s the essence of it:

– YA author John Green is excited (extremely) to unveil the cover for The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton, Jan 10, 9720525478812), designed by his favorite designer ever, Rodrigo Corral (he did  covers for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Juno Diaz, Super Sad True Love Story, by Gary Shteyngart and The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides).

– John also announces a contest for fans to design the cover of the paperback version of An Abundance of Katherines (details here; contest ends 11/21/11).

John doesn’t mention that The Fault in Our Stars just rose to #33 on Amazon’s sales rankings (it went to #1 back in June when he simply announced the title; it’s on the rise, so that may happen again).

One of the perks of being a children’s librarian in New York is the opportunity to go to various publisher’s previews for librarians.

This week, Penguin hosted the first of the spring season. Below are my picks. Upcoming in the next few weeks are previews from Lerner, Chronicle, Random House, Harper and Little Brown.

To get your own preview, download the Jan thru April Penguin catalog here.

The Treasure Chest: Angel of the Battlefield, Ann Hood, illus by  Karl Kwasny, Grosset & Dunlap, Jan 24.

A new series from adult author Ann Hood, it’s the next step up in reading level from The Magic Tree House readers. It features twins, Felix and Maisie, who time-travel through the magic of the “treasure chest.” In each volume they meet a distinguished historic figure as a child. The first episode features Clara Barton. The second volume, Little Lion, also coming in January, features Alexander Hamilton.

Ann describes the inspiration for the series below:

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Robbie Forester and the Outlaws of Sherwood Street, by Peter Abrahams, Philomel, Jan. 19.

The number one request that I have trouble filling is for new mystery novels…not horror, not adventure, not survival, not suspense, not fantasy, but MYSTERY. Looks like I have my answer in Robbie Forester, from the author of Down the Rabbit Hole and the Echo Falls series (as well as the popular adult Chet & Bernie mysteries written under the name Spencer Quinn).

A bonus; it’s set in my town, Brooklyn.
 
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Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral, Razor Bill, February 2012. 12 and up

As you can see from my photo of an interior spread below, this romance is told in scrapbook style, combining photographs, illustration and text.

The combination of photos and text has worked successfully for Ms. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It’s interesting to see this technique applied to a teen romance.

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Looking at Lincoln, Maira Kalman, Nancy Paulsen Books, Jan 5.

Kalman wrote a blog on the New York Times site about viewing a collection of photos of Abraham Lincoln (in Philadelphia’s Rosenbach Museum and Library), looking deep into his eyes, and … falling in love with him. The book is reformatted from the original postings with additional art.

Kalman is currently creating an illustrated column for The New Yorker based on travels to museums and libraries, beginning with the Peoples Palace, the New York Public Library (available to subscribers only).

During the preview, we were treated to a look at some of Kalman’s original art (see more interior pages here):

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Playground, 50 Cent, Razorbill, Nov. 1.

The rapper 50 Cent bases this, his first novel on his own childhood experiences with bullying. Originally planned for publication in January, it’s been moved to November 1st. Entertainment Weekly‘s “Shelf Life” blog has posted the first three chapters.

Says Rita Williams-Garcia, “50 Cent takes monster to new depths in this character who haunts and inspires. Playground is both a sly and brutally smart novel.” VOYA approves it; “this story effectively suggests various underlying issues that can lead to bullying and how anger, if not treated, can lead to greater problems.”

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Quirk Books) is at #4 on the NYT Print Children’s Best Seller list after 17 weeks, so we were curious if there will be a sequel to this wonderfully peculiar novel that features strange and creepy old photographs.

We’re not the only ones. Back in August, author Ransom Riggs responded to numerous fan inquiries with the news that a sequel is in the works:

I just got back from a whirlwind trip around the country to hunt down a new crop of peculiar photos for book 2. I scored lots of great images — now I just have to figure out how to use them! But that, as they say, is the fun part.

The publisher, Quirk Books, adds that the as-yet-untitled sequel is scheduled for Spring 2013. There might also be a movie; rights were sold to 20th Century Fox in May.

Delaware Tea Party politician Christine O’Donnell, is disproving the adage that any media attention is good media attention, reports The Christian Science Monitor.

Last night, she abruptly terminated her interview about her book, Trouble Maker, (St. Martin’s Press, 8/16) with CNN’s Piers Morgan after he asked about her views on gay marriage.

Despite more than 550 articles this morning, her book still only rose to a high of #1,524 on Amazon sales rankings and libraries are showing minimal holds.

Fortune magazine reports that the title of Walter Isaacson’s forthcoming bio of Steve Jobs has been changed, causing the book to zoom up Amazon’s sales rankings to #51 (from #16,712). It is scheduled for release next Spring, March 6, 2012.

According to Fortune, Isaacson’s wife and daughter lobbied to change it from the “too cutsey” title chosen by publisher S&S, iSteve: The Book of Jobs to the prosaic, Steve Jobs.