Penguin Group (USA) Weekly Update - 10/13

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Jumpstart’s 2008 “Read for the Record” Is a Roaring Success

Last Thursday, over 425,000 people joined Jumpstart's "Read for the Record," shattering a world record and bringing early education to a national stage. As mentioned, this year’s “Read for the Record” campaign book was a custom edition of the beloved children’s classic, Corduroy by Don Freeman, published by Penguin Young Readers Group. The day kicked-off this morning with an early reading event in Rockefeller Plaza on NBC’s “Today Show” with First Lady Laura Bush joined by Pearson Foundation President Mark Nieker as well as appearances by such celebrities as LL Cool J (pictured here with a group of children on People.com), Jesse McCartney, Mary Louise Parker, Greg Kinnear and Maria from Sesame Street. Pearson and Jumpstart representatives were also briefly interviewed on the program.

Thousands of events were held across the nation, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. And, employees from Penguin Group (USA) in both New York and New Jersey volunteered their time at various events across the tri-state area.

In addition, Hannah Montana, Jesse McCarthy and various other celebrities signed limited editions of Corduroy for an online auction.

For more details, go to Jumpstart’s Read for the Record website and the Pearson Foundation site.

Riverhead’s Junot Díaz Wins 2008 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award

Riverhead’s Junot Díaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, has been selected as the winner of the 2008 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in the fiction category. Presented annually, the Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Awards provide a platform for the national community of Black writers to honor the work of their peers and, in the process, speak not just to the nominated writers, but to the world at large about the profound significance, endurance and genius of Black writers and the stories they tell. A panel of published authors in each genre reviewed submissions and selected one winner from each category.

Having already picked up the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, and the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, Díaz also recently received three more literary honors: the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, which recognizes works that contribute to a better understanding of racism and that celebrate diversity; the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, which celebrates the power of the written word to promote peace; and the the Massachusetts Book Award for Best Fiction of 2008, recognizing significant achievements in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, and children's literature authored by Massachusetts residents.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is currently #3 on The New York Times trade paperback bestseller list, in its fifth week.

Click to read "A Conversation with Junot Díaz" in the Latino Interest Feature on the Penguin Website.

Joseph Boyden Selected as Finalist for Canada’s 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize

Joseph Boyden’s new novel, Through Black Spruce, published by Penguin Canada, and which will be published in the U.S. by Viking next March, is one of the five finalists for Canada’s 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize, one of Canada’s two most prestigious literary awards. The five finalists were selected by an esteemed jury panel comprised of award-winning author and previous Giller Prize winner Margaret Atwood; Liberal MP, Foreign Affairs critic and author Bob Rae; and renowned international journalist, professor and author Colm Toibin. The shortlist was chosen from 95 books submitted for consideration by 38 publishing houses from every region of the country. The winner, who receives $50,000, will be announced at a gala dinner in Toronto, on November 11th.

Click to read an excerpt from Joseph Boyden’s last Penguin novel, Three Day Road.

Portfolio’s The World Is Curved Receives High Praise from The New York Times and a Plug from Bill Clinton

A great plug for The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy by David M. Smick (Portfolio, on-sale now) appeared in David Brooks’ op-ed column in Tuesday’s New York Times. In the article, Brooks writes: "In his astonishingly prescient book, “The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy,” David M. Smick argues that we have inherited an impressive global economic system. It, with the U.S. as the hub, has produced unprecedented levels of global prosperity. But it has now spun wildly out of control. It can’t be fixed with the shock and awe of a $700 billion rescue package, Smick says. The fundamental architecture needs to be reformed."

Read the full op-ed piece: here.

In addition, Bill Clinton recommended it yesterday on Tina Brown's new website, “The Daily Beast,” which is getting lots of pickup. He says: "Three bailout-related books: Michael Heller's Gridlock Economy (about hoarding resources), David M. Smick's The World Is Curved (why things could get much worse), and Larry M. Bartel's Unequal Democracy (on how partisanship has hurt the poor). Especially at this time every thoughtful American needs to learn as much as possible about the relationship of politics to economics."

The World Is Curved is currently #25 on The New York Times hardcover fiction extended bestseller list for the week of October 19th.

Read an interview with David M. Smick on the Penguin Website where he discusses The World Is Curved, globalization and the current financial crisis.

Watch the Star-Studded Video for College Girl

The video trailer for Patricia Weitz's novel, College Girl, which will be published by Riverhead this December, has quite the Hollywood pedigree. Created by the director of American Pie, About a Boy, and In Good Company and starring Kat Dennings (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist), the video captures the uncomfortable and self-conscious moments of a budding college crush.

Watch it here.

Great Mention of The Rough Guide to Climate Change and The Omnivore’s Dilemma in The Wall Street Journal

A nice plug for both The Rough Guide to Climate Change and The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Penguin) appeared in the October 6th edition of The Wall Street Journal in an article entitled “Reading Up on the Environment.” In the piece, leading environmental experts offered their recommendations for books on environmental issues facing the world today.

Eileen Claussen, President of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and Strategies for the Global Environment, praised The Rough Guide to Climate Change, commenting, “if you want a plain-language book about climate change, this is the book for you. It clearly describes what causes a changing climate, discusses the impacts that we are likely to see, and provides insights into what the solutions to deal with the problem might be. And most important of all, you don't need either an advanced degree to understand it, or a cup of coffee to keep you awake as you read.”

And, Leslie Carothers, President of the Environmental Law Institute, cited The Omnivore’s Dilemma as “an exploration of what Americans eat and where it comes from. Along the way, the author reveals the operations of industrial agriculture and its impacts on land, water, energy consumption and human health.”

Read the full piece here.

I can has winner for Gotham’s LOLCatz Caption Contest?!

No, u can has 4 !!!

I Can Has Cheezburger by Professor Happycat and icanhascheezburger.com (Gotham) is on sale now! These funny felines are making the media purr with excitement. Time magazine says, “The reigning instance of an Internet meme, a running gag that won’t stop running but instead reproduces and mutates in the Petri dish of the Net’s collective imagination.” Slate magazine simply states, “You cannot resist the LOLcats.”

The New York Times Bestseller Highlights for the Week of October 19th

Two new debuts for Penguin Group (USA) on The New York Times bestseller list for the week of October 19th: Dark of the Moon by John Sandford (Berkley) is #8 on the mass market paperback fiction list; and The Passion Test by Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood (Plume) is #8 on the paperback advice, how-to, and miscellaneous list.

Here are more bestseller highlights for the week of October 19th:

On the hardcover fiction list, Heat Lightning by John Sandford (G. P. Putnam’s Sons) is #4 in its second week, while Hot Mahogany by Stuart Woods (G. P. Putnam's Sons) comes in at #8, also in its second week.

On the hardcover nonfiction list, Mother Warriors by Jenny McCarthy (Dutton) is #10 in its second week, while Bad Money by Kevin Phillips (Viking) is #16 in its fourth week.

On the trade paperback fiction list, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin) climbs to #2 in its 118th week; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Riverhead) is #3 in its fifth week; The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) is #14 in its 187th week; The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (Berkley) is #15 in its 40th week; and Second Chance by Jane Green (Plume) is #16 in its nineteenth week.

On the mass market paperback list, Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Ace) is #11 in its fourth week; Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley) is #12 in its fifth week; Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (Ace) is #14 in its fourth week; and Club Dead, also by Charlaine Harris (Ace) is #19 in its fifth week on this list.

On the paperback nonfiction list, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) is #1 in its 88th week; while Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) is in the #2 slot in its 89th week.

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (Plume) is at #2 on the paperback advice, how-to and miscellaneous list in its 36th week.

In the young readers sector, Goodnight Goon written and illustrated by Michael Rex (Putnam) is #7 in its sixth week on the children’s picture book list; Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (Speak) is #7 in its eighteenth week on the children’s paperback list; and Barack Obama by Roberta Edwards, illustrated by Ken Call (Grosset & Dunlap) is #8 in its ninth week on that same list.

New This Week

The Partnership by Charles Ellis (The Penguin Press, on-sale now))

With arguably the timeliest book of the fall season, The Penguin Press this week publishes Charles Ellis’s The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs. As a strategy consultant to Goldman Sachs for more than thirty years, Ellis developed close relationships with many of Goldman Sachs’s past and present leaders around the world—and he here draws on unprecedented access to over 100 partners to probe the most important chapters in the firm’s history, revealing the key events and decisions that tell the colorful, character-driven story of how Goldman Sachs became what it is today. Ellis demonstrates how the firm’s core values, intensive recruiting, entrepreneurial creativity, and disciplined risk taking—incorporating technology and hard work—laid the foundations, multiplied the firm’s resources and profits, and magnified its power until it became today’s Goldman Sachs: one of the most successful business organizations in the world.

Ellis launches his book’s publication with appearances on CNBC-TV, Fox Business Network, Business Talk Radio, Business News Network, and interviews in BusinessWeek and the Associated Press.

Tried by War by James McPherson (The Penguin Press, on-sale now)

James McPherson is one of our greatest living Civil War historians. His bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom is an established classic, and he is the unrivaled authority on this bloodiest and most profound period of American history. Now, in Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief, McPherson illuminates a heretofore obscure but profoundly influential aspect of Lincoln's legacy – his role as Commander-in-Chief.

As McPherson explains in Tried by War, Lincoln essentially invented the idea of Commander-in-Chief, as neither the constitution nor existing legislation specified how the president ought to declare war or dictate strategy. For most of the Civil War, this self-taught military strategist oversaw strategy and planning for every major battle; he had to constantly goad his reluctant generals toward battle, and navigate the delicate relationship between the front line and the home front, violently conflated when a war is fought within one’s own borders.

As we approach the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth in 2009, McPherson’s Tried by War will be that rarest gift— a book at once suspenseful and inspiring, a concise and electrifying portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured. A feature on the cover of the Life section in USA Today appeared on October 7th, The New York Times Book Review has their review slated for October 16th (with an accompanying podcast interview with the author), and NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” will interview James McPherson live on October 20th.

Broken Government by John W. Dean (Penguin, on-sale now)

As we embark on one of the most anticipated elections in our nation’s history, New York Times bestselling author and political commentator John W. Dean can help make sense of the candidates, running mates and their platforms—offering insight in this explosive political atmosphere. As a member of the Nixon White House, Dean was privy to it all. After living through the Watergate scandal his senses were heightened for identifying deception and corruption in government. In his new book, Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches, Dean agrees with the American public that our government is in a state of disarray. He explains why by looking at how the ultra conservative Bush Administration has failed. It is most likely Dean will be a popular talk and news show guest during this incendiary election season. John W. Dean will be turning 70 on October 13th and celebrating in high political fashion when he speaks at the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas later that week.

Journals by Arthur M. Schlesinger (Penguin, on-sale now)

Last year, America lost one of its preeminent historians and social critics when Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. passed away. For more than half a century, this great man was at the vital center of American political and cultural life: a public intellectual in the truest and best sense of the term. From his entrance into political leadership circles in the 1950s through his years in the Kennedy administration and beyond, he was that rare thing—a master historian who has enjoyed an extraordinary eyewitness vantage on history as it was being made. When Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.’s extraordinary and revelatory Journals: 1952-2000 were published last fall critics and fans alike clamored to read this great man’s words on the last half-century of American history. Now available for the first time in paperback, Schlesinger’s Journals is sure to be one of the most talked about and treasured books this fall.

The Serpent and the Scorpion by Clare Langley-Hawthorne (Penguin, on-sale now)

Penguin author Clare Langley-Hawthorne’s second novel, The Serpent and the Scorpion comes out September 30th. Like her first book, Consequences of Sin, The Serpent and the Scorpion is a post-Victorian mystery featuring the strong, outspoken, intelligent and sassy Ursula Marlow. Clare will be heading out on a 6 city tour including events in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Lake Forest, Portland and Oakland. Clare will also be in attendance and on a panel at Bouchercon.

The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality by Andre Comte-Sponville (Penguin, on-sale now)

Can there be spirituality in a secular way of life? Can we do without religion? Andre Comte-Sponville aims to answer these questions in his essay, a national bestseller, The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality, on sale now. Comte-Sponville highlights the positive, fulfilling life of connecting with the universe without the aid of religion. It is rooted in Western tradition that spirituality is only synonymous with religion, but Comte-Sponville uses examples from Eastern systems of belief that are centered more on human beings and nature than on an almighty, ominous being to demonstrate how spirituality can be attained. Atheism, often considered a “hot-button” issue in the states is given, at once, a humorous and accessible perspective through the eyes of Comte-Sponville in an effort to emphasize the “lighter side” of the practice.

The Chess Machine by Robert Löhr (Penguin, on-sale now)

From the dark dungeons of Venice to the imperial court in Vienna, from the palaces of the Austrian nobility to the alleyways of the Jewish quarter, Robert Löhr’s debut novel, The Chess Machine, now available in paperback, takes the reader on a breathtaking historical adventure based on the true story of a legendary invention. Vienna, 1770—Hundreds of years before the first computer, Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen is heralded as the conceiver of the first thinking machine. His majestic “Mechanical Turk”—a sensational automaton able to defeat any opponent at chess in a matter of moves—astounds the Habsburg court. But Baron von Kempelen is more master showman than mechanical wizard. In a series of hidden compartments, the chess machine is secretly operated from the inside by an Italian dwarf, Tibor, a social outcast whose chess-playing abilities and diminutive size make him the perfect accomplice in this grand hoax.

Von Kempelen and his helpers tour the remarkable invention all around Europe to amaze and entertain the public, and despite many valiant attempts and close calls, no challenger is able to beat the extraordinary chess machine. Crowds across the continent adore the Turk, and the success of Baron von Kempelen seems assured. But when a beautiful and seductive Countess dies in the presence of the automaton under mysterious circumstances, the Mechanical Turk falls under a cloud of suspicion, and both inventor and machine become targets of espionage, persecution, and aristocratic intrigue. The Chess Machine is a riveting and remarkable tale full of envy, lust, scandal and deception. Published to major critical acclaim both in Europe and the United States, Robert Löhr’s stunning debut is not to be missed.

New Next Week

Paper Towns by John Green (Dutton Children’s Books, 10/16)

John Green is a Printz Medal recipient, Print Honor recipient and two-time LA Times Book Award nominee. In his highly-anticipated third novel, the author of Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines tells the story of the popular and extravagantly mischievous Margo Roth Spiegelman. Quentin has always admired his next door neighbor from afar. When Margo suddenly appears at Quentin’s window in the middle of the night dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge, he follows her. Their all-nighter feels to Q like the beginning of a new life, but he awakes the next day to discover that Margo has vanished. Always an enigma, she has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q.

Paper Towns has received four starred reviews, including one from Booklist calling Green “not only clever and wonderfully witty but also deeply thoughtful and insightful.” National feature and review coverage is scheduled in The New York Times Book Review, Reuters and Scripps Howard. Regional coverage includes features in The Chicago Tribune, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Miami Herald, among others. On October 16th, John Green will kick off a 14-city tour at the Barnes & Noble, Tribeca here in New York City. Other tour cities include: Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, Boston, Atlanta, Vero Beach, FL, Miami, Tampa, Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

In addition to being a distinguished author, many know John and his brother Hank for their enormously popular video series Brotherhood 2.0. John and Hank’s videos have been watched more than 11 million times, making theirs one of the most popular channels in YouTube history, and spawning a thriving, interactive community of tens of thousands of fans (known as “nerdfighters”), headquartered at nerdfighters.com. Last month, Hank asked the nerdfighter community to pre-order Paper Towns. The book immediately shot to #1 on Amazon. In November, John and Hank Green will go on a one month “Great American tour de Nerdfighting,” speaking at libraries across the country.

Listen to an audio excerpt of Paper Towns, and watch a video of John Green explaining his new novel on the Penguin Website.

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