Joss Whedon, best known for as creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and  for his adaptation of The Avengers, turns next to a different source of material; Shakespeare.

Much Ado About Nothing opens in a limited run on June 7th and in more theaters on June 21.

As part of her interview with Judy Blume on Rock Center, Chelsea Clinton talks to Blume’s son about Tiger Eyes, the movie he adapted from his mother’s book.

The movie is set to debut in theaters and V.O.D. on June 7th, according to Entertainment Weekly‘s “Inside Movies” blog.

A trailer has not yet been released, but scenes from the movie are featured in the interview.

Don’t worry; this is a Fifty Shades title that libraries won’t have to fit into their budgets.

Vintage Books announced today that they are releasing Fifty Shades of Grey: Inner Goddess (A Journal) on May 1.

It combines the author;s writing advice with lined pages for readers to record their own “inner goddess” thoughts (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Taylor Swift may be on the cover of  the April issue of Vanity Fair, but  Sheryl Sandberg, author of Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, (RH/Knopf; RH Audio; BOT) gets star treatment in the issue, profiled by celebrity author Michael Lewis, complete with photo by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz. Her book is also featured on the cover of the NYT BR (in a review by Anne-Marie Slaughter, who has been portrayed as Sandberg’s chief critic. Their disagreement has even been characterized, in gratingly non-feminist terms, as a “cat fight.” In fact, the review is mostly positive and when critical, only mildly so).

She was featured on CBS 60 Minutes last night, followed today by NPR’s Morning Edition, three segments on ABC’s Good Morning America (one devoted to the controversy, the interview, and a”town hall” discussion coming tomorrow), and tonight on Nightline.

The book has been #1 on Amazon sales rankings since Friday.

Called “Oz: The Not-So-Great” by critics, Disney’s prequel to the classic is now being called “Oz the Great and the Profitable,” after pulling in over $80 million, making it the first official blockbuster of 2013. In anticipation, Disney has already green lighted a sequel (a sequel to a prequel? When does it merge with the original?)

Official Movie Site: Disney.com/TheWizard

Those looking for tie-ins will not be disappointed (for tie-ins to upcoming movies, check our Upcoming Movies with Tie-ins list):

The first two books in L. Frank Baum’s series have been re-released, featuring “beautifully repainted [cover art] and original Stromberg imagery.”

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, intro. by the film’s star, James Franco, Disney Press

The Marvelous Land of Oz, L. Frank Baum, intro. by the film’s screenwriter Mitchell Kapner, Disney Press

Audio: Dreamscape  has released new recordings of the first two Oz books (also on OverDrive).

  
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, read by Tara Sands (Jan 22)

The Marvelous Land of Oz read by Tara Sands (Feb 19)

Disney Press offers several tie-ins.

Oz The Great and Powerful, Elizabeth Rudnick — the junior novel adaptation

Oz The Great and Powerful: Land of Oz — Level 2 World of Reading title

Oz The Great and Powerful: Witches of Oz, Scott Peterson– picture book

The Art of Oz The Great and Powerful, Grant Curtis — behind-the-scenes book

Oz The Great and Powerful: The Movie Storybook, Scott Peterson — features movie stills.

In the upcoming Sunday NYT Book Review, Claire Messud begins her review of The Dinner (RH/Hogarth; AudioGo; Thorndike Large Print) by observing, “North American readers care inordinately that fictional characters be likable,” and warns that there “is a bracing nastiness to this book that grows ever more intense with the turning of its pages. It will not please those who seek the cozy, the redemptive or the uplifting.” She concludes with an arresting image; Koch “has created a clever, dark confection, like some elegant dessert fashioned out of entrails.”

Americans have demonstrated an appetite for more than the cozy and uplifting. The Dinner is now a verifiable success (3 weeks in the top ten on the NYT best seller list), so it’s no surprise to learn that Random House’s Hogarth Press, which published The Dinner here, plans to release another book by Koch next year, Summerhouse with Swimming Pool, originally published in Dutch in 2011.

The publisher describes it as, “set on the Mediterranean coast, where an acerbic doctor, his celebrity client, and their families spend an idyllic week that takes a sinister turn when the doctor’s teenage daughter is attacked, leading to an untimely death that may or may not be the doctor’s fault.”

A group of people, at least of one of whom has questionable motives, brought together in a single place for a limited period of time? Sounds like we are in for some more “bracing nastiness.”

The lead in library holds among the titles arriving next week is Breaking Point, C. J. Box’s latest thriller featuring Joe Pickett. Trailing it is Terry Brooks’ Bloodfire Quest: The Dark Legacy of Shannara, the second in a new series. In the media, the majority of air time for books will be focused on Facebook COO’s Sheryl Sandberg’s controversial Lean In.

The titles highlighted here, and more, are listed on our downloadable spreadsheet, New Title Radar, Week of March 11

Media Magnets

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Sheryl Sandberg, (RH/Knopf; RH Audio; BOT)

Facebook COO Sandberg’s “sort of feminist manifesto” arrives after weeks of heated discussion; it’s been going on so long that the backlash has a backlash. If you’ve seen the author’s 2010 TED presentation (below), or her appearance on the PBS show Makers, you may wonder what all the fuss is about (and about the health of feminism in this country if a reasonable analysis of gender politics can still cause such a ruckus).

The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd dismissed Sandberg as the “PowerPoint Pied Piper in Prada ankle boots.” As if in response, Time magazine this week features Sandberg with the cover line, “Don’t Hate Her Because She’s Successful.” For women too busy having it all to read the book, the Washington Post offers a cheat sheet.

Much more attention is on the way, including appearances on CBS 60 Minutes this Sunday, followed by NPR’s Morning Edition, ABC’s Good Morning America, and Nightline.

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Until I Say Good-bye: My Year of Living with Joy, Susan Spencer-Wendel, (Harper)

Diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, Susan Spencer-Wendel decided to live her life to the fullest, rather than follow doctors’ advice to conserve her energy. Along with her husband, Bred Witter (who was the co-author of the best-selling book that celebrated a small-town library and its resident cat, Dewey’s Nine Lives), she writes about what she experienced and produced a video for the book. A round of media attention begins with NPR’s Weekend Edition tomorrow, followed by the Today Show, Inside Edition with Deborah Norville, a feature in People and a USA Today “Life Section” cover story.

Traps, Mackensie Bezos, (RH/Knopf)

In promotional material, author Bezos bio is brief. She “studied creative writing at Princeton University … lives in Seattle with her husband and four children.” More is added in a feature on the author in Vogue this month, which makes no bones about the fact that her husband is the founder of Amazon. Prepub reviews, are generally positive, if not overly enthusiastic. Publishers Weekly says, “Bezos (The Testing of Luther Albright) has a knack for the slow-build. In her second novel she galvanizes the mundane with a sense of dread, presenting four women trapped by sad circumstances and their own fallibility, as they gradually make their way through four tense days during which their lives intersect.”

Watch List

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, Edward Kelsey Moore, (RH/Knopf; RH Audio; BOT; Thorndike Large Print)

Four women (nicknamed “the supremes”) bond during get-togethers in a small-town Indiana diner. Shelf Awareness‘s book review editor Marilyn Dahl gives it a strong readers advisory hook; “it may not be considered a ‘great’ book, like Billy Lynn’s Long Half-time Walk, but it’s an absolutely delightful book that brought me great joy, and I recommend it to everyone I know.” Entertainment Weekly says that in this “kindhearted debut, Moore (can it be called chick lit if a man wrote it?) shows a seasoned ease with his funny, damaged subjects, including the tipsy ghost of Eleanor Roosevelt. You’ll be casting the movie by the second chapter.”

Dark Tide, Elizabeth Haynes, (Harper Pbk Original; HarperLuxe)

Haynes’s first book, Into the Darkest Corner, was popular with librarians on GalleyChat. This second is reviewed on Edelweiss by librarian Halle Eisenman (Beaufort County Library); “A compelling story and satisfying mystery. A good recommendation for fans of Gillian Flynn, although if readers haven’t picked up Haynes’ first book, I’d recommend that as the more suspenseful and intense read.”

Wool, Hugh Howey, (S&S; simultaneous trade paperback and hardcover release)

Called the “Sci-fi Fifty Shades of Grey” (as in, a self-published book that became such a hit that Hollywood came knocking — NOT a story about bondage in outer space), Wool began life as short story, followed by four more titles, collected in Wool – Omnibus Edition (Amazon/CreateSpace) owned by several libraries. Now it gets its traditional publishing debut (complete with a cover blurb from The Passage‘s Justin Cronin), via a deal with S&S, which the Wall Street Journal examines in detail today.

Next week brings touching and humorous picture books and a new YA title by Sharon Draper. Series releases include the latest in L.J. Smith’s Secret Circle series, The Temptation and Kathy Reich’s third in her Virals series, Code. These, and more highlights, are included on our downloadable spreadsheet, Kids New Title Radar, Week of March 11

Picture Books

Otis and the Puppy, Loren Long, (Penguin/Philomel)

In this new intallment of the series by best-selling author Loren Long, beloved big-eyed farm tractor, Otis faces his own fears to rescue his new friend, the puppy.

Poetry

World Rat Day: Poems About Real Holidays You’ve Never Heard Of, J. Patrick Lewis,  Anna Raff, (Candlewick)

If you’re suffering from Poetry Month fatigue, here’s the perfect pick-me-up, wacky holidays honored with humorous poems by the Children’s Poetry Laureate.

Young Adult

Panic, Sharon M. Draper, (S&S/Atheneum)

A teenage girl is abducted. Her story, told in alternating viewpoints, is frightening and believable, with a cover that  is creepy, compelling and beautiful all at the same time. Draper has won several awards, including the Coretta Scott King for both Copper Sun and Forged by Fire. Her most recent, Out of My Mind was NYT best seller and received the Josette Frank Award from the Bank Street College of Education.

Starstruck, Rachel Shukert,  Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Memoirist/actress, Shukert tries her hand at the YA genre with successful results. A mystery set in 1930’s Hollywood, Starstruck gives an inside look at the struggles of young actresses (think Pretty Little Liars with an earlier setting).

Author of The Orchid Thief and Rin Tin Tin, Susan Orlean, has signed a deal to publish The Library Book, described on Publishers Marketplace as, “a love letter to an endangered institution, exploring their history, their people, their meaning, and their future as they adapt and redefine themselves in a digital world, told through the lens of the author’s quest to solve a crime that has gone unsolved since it was carried out in 1986: who set fire to the Los Angeles Public Library, ultimately destroying 400,000 books, and why?”

It will be published by Simon & Schuster. There’s no word on expected publication date.

Is there such a thing as award fatigue? Not for me. Awards, especially those chosen by knowledgeable judges (full disclosure, I was on this particular committee), shine a light on titles that might otherwise have been lost in the crowd. The Ezra Jack Keats New Writer and New Illustrator Book Awards, which were just announced, recognize and encourage new talent.

The 2013 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award Winner Is:

Julie Fogliano for And Then It’s Spring, Illus. by Erin Stead, (Macmillan/Roaring Brook/Neal Porter)

The award citation reads, “First-time author Fogliano shares the excitement that goes hand in hand with planting the first seeds of spring. After months of snow, a boy and his dog agree that enough is enough, and decide to plant a garden. They dig, plant, play and wait…and wait…until at long last, shades of green begin to replace the brown. Spring is in the air!”

The 2013 Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award Winner Is:

Hyewon Yum for Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten!, (Macmillan/FSG/Frances Foster)

The award citation reads, “First day of kindergarten jitters may be nothing new, but in Yum’s book, it’s a parent who is frantic and needs reassuring! Playfully using color and size (Mom and son take turns appearing small and blue-tinted; large and rosy pink), this author-illustrator captures the emotional highs and lows of both parent and child around this milestone.”

The 2013 Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor Awards Go To:

Sanjay Patel for Ganesha’s Sweet Tooth, (Chronicle Books)

K.G. Campbell for Lester’s Dreadful Sweaters, (Kids Can Press)

The 2013 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Honor Awards Go To:

Mara Rockliff for My Heart Will Not Sit Down, (RH/Knopf BYR)

Jennifer Lanthier for The Stamp Collector, (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)

Don Tate for It Jes’ Happened, (Lee & Low Books)

Now that the Oscars have wrapped, George Clooney is turning to his next film, The Monuments Men, based on the true story of a group of  museum directors and curators who, in the last days of WWII, were sent by FDR to retrieve stolen works of art from the Nazis before they are destroyed. It begins shooting in Berlin this month, according to an announcement from Columtia Pictures with the plan of opening in theaters in December.

The film is based on a book by Robert M. Edsel who, after selling his oil and gas exploration company, began researching the efforts of the group called “The Monuments Men,” (which, despite its name,  included at least one woman, Rose Valland, a French Resistance fighter).

Clooney directs and stars, along with Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and John Goodman.

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History Robert M. Edsel Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 513 pages Publisher: Hachette/Center Street – (2009-09-03) ISBN 9781599951492

There are several other books on the subject (see our earlier story). Edsel is also publishing new book, Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nations Treasures from the Nazis, this coming May.

Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation’s Treasures from the Nazis Robert M. Edsel Retail Price: $28.95 Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company – (2013-05-13) ISBN / EAN: 0393082415 / 9780393082418

The subtitle of the book Wave only hints at the heartache that lies within; A Memoir of Life After the Tsunami (Rh/Knopf; RH Audio; BOT). In it, Sonali Deraniyagala, a British citizen originally from Sri Lanka, recounts how she struggled to cope with the loss of her husband, two sons, ages 5 and 7, and both her parents to that catastrophic event.

The book is currently receiving a round of media attention, with glowing reviews from Laura Miller in Salon, “a spare, radiant book … The extremity of Deraniyagala’s story seizes the attention, but it’s the beauty of how she expresses it that makes it indelible,” the NYT and a feature on NPR Morning Edition. It is also the #1 Amazon Editors’s pick for the month and is even considered “required reading” by the NY Post.

In spite of the attention, however, library holds are relatively light. The story may be a difficult sell, but as Miller attests, the writer’s “extraordinary gifts” reward those who are willing to try it.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s book about the challenges women face in trying  to climb the corporate ladder, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, (RH/Knopf; Random House Audio; BOT) doesn’t arrive until next week but there is already a backlash.

Now the backlash has its own backlash. The New Yorker published a long piece yesterday headlined, “Maybe You Should Read the Book.”

Some have taken heed; libraries are showing holds; some as a high as 10:1 on light ordering.

The news from Jeb Bush’s appearance on the Today Show this morning is what he refused to say — whether he plans to run for president in 2016.

Bush appeared on the show to talk about his new book, which releases tomorrow, Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution, (S&S/Threshold; S&S Audio; also published in Spanish under the title, Las guerras inmigratorias: Forjar una solución estadounidense).

The Today Show‘s Matt Lauer noted that publishing a book can be a sign that a politician is gearing up for a run, but Bush refused to take the bait (he was given precious little time to talk about the actual subject of his book, even in a separate segment).

He’ll have more opportunities to dodge the 2016 question; several other appearances are scheduled for this week, including CBS this Morning,  NPR’s Morning Edition. and on Telemundo-TV.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Fulfilling rumors and fervent hopes, Shirley MacLaine will return for the fourth season of Downton Abbey, Deadline confirms.

That may make up for the loss of the Machiavellian maid, O’Brien.

The show’s creator, Julian Fellowes, recently signed to write and produce a new series for NBC called The Gilded Age, featuring the robber barons of 19th C New York City. It is being called, of course, “The American Downton.” Reportedly, Gwyneth Paltrow is being courted to star.

Fellowes made news in an NYT interview last  month by saying that, if the series goes forward, he would have to turn over the writing of Downton Abbey to others. The producers assured Deadline, however, that he has written all of the season four’s episodes.