Even before the crocus bloom or the pollen count rises, publishers are thinking about sand, sun, and, most of all, summer book releases. Fortunately, they seek to share that enthusiasm with the library community through special book preview events, where librarians and children's book reviewers get to join their peers for an early insider peek at the upcoming releases. In this first of a series, School Library Journal shares these peeks with our readers, highlighting which titles especially got our attention. First up this season was the Penguin Young Readers Group summer preview, which took place in New York City last week. There, we met a sneaker-wearing gorilla, crayons on strike, and an invisible boy, and learned that C. Alexander London’s “Accidental Adventures” series will come to an end in July with We Sled with Dragons (Puffin). However, London will reappear under the name Alex London with Proxy (Philomel), a new science fiction novel in the vain of The Whipping Boy in which rich boy Knox and his proxy/scapegoat Syd buck the system on a not-so-accidental adventure. We were also clued in that Rick Yancey’s dystopian novel The 5^th Wave (Putnam) is off to a three-star start before its May release. On the sequel front, Maile Meloy will be following up on her fantasy middle-grade novel The Apothecary (Putnam, 2011) with The Apprentices (Putnam), which is set for a June release. And did you know that Neal Shusterman takes cruises so that he can peacefully write? That must have been his inspiration for bringing Antsy and the other cast of characters aboard a cruise ship in Ship Out of Luck (Dutton), his follow-up to The Schwa Was Here (Dutton, 2004), also out in June. And Gennifer Choldenko will end her “Alcatraz” trilogy with Al Capone Does My Homework (Dial), due out in August. Penguin also has some fun picture books in store. In June, the aforementioned gorilla gives Amelia and other young readers some tantrum tips in No Fits, Nilson! (Dial), a hilarious preschool title by Zachariah Ohora. In July, Duncan has to appease his striking art supplies in The Day the Crayons Quit (Philomel), written by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. The letters written by the crayons during their "strike" will make this title one to definitely consider for meeting Common Core requirements. And in August, we will see Jackie Woodson and James Ransome collaborate on This Is the Rope (Nancy Paulsen), in which the story of the Great Migration is told through the legacy of a piece of rope. Also of note is Blanket and Bear, A Remarkable Pair (Putnam), the debut picture book by L.J. R. Kelly, grandson of Roald Dahl; Kelly has teamed up with illustrator Yoko Tanaka for this August release. The name Herman Melville often doesn’t come up at children’s book previews but it did twice at the Penguin preview. Ben Gibson ‘s The Ghastly Dandies Do the Classics, his first book for kids, has erudite monsters dressed in knickers and neckties retelling Moby Dick, in addition to Hamlet, The Odyssey, and Sherlock Holmes. Melville again resurfaced when Ann Hood’s Queen Liliuokalani: Royal Prisoner (Grossett Dunlap) was discussed. The sixth book in her “Treasure Chest” series has time-traveling kids who visit late 19th century Hawaii and meet Melville who runs a bowling alley. It’s more plausible than you think—history does show that Melville once worked as a pin setter in Honolulu. Debut books came in various shapes and sizes. "Lose Weight and Get the Guy"—doesn't that sound like an article in a teen magazine? It’s actually the plot of K.A. Barson’s humorous debut novel 45 Pounds (More or Less) (Viking), in which 16-year-old Ann aims to become a thin bridesmaid at her aunt’s wedding. The celebrity-filled book trailer for Firecracker (Razorbill), meanwhile, also garnered much attention at the preview for debut author David Iseron—also known as a writer for New Girl and Saturday Night Live—and his unusual character of Astrid Krieger, who lives in a rocketship. Other titles that garnered attention last week include Tara Sullivan’s debut novel Golden Boy (Putnam), which tackles the human rights issue of Albino Africans; a debut middle school novel by Natasha Farrant, After Iris (Dial), about a girl who is left to cope with her dysfunctional family after the death of her twin sister; and Saturday Boy (Viking), the debut novel by David Fleming, which deals with an 11-year-old boy and his father in Afghanistan. Fantasy then took the stage with The Hostage Prince (Viking), which begins the “Seelie Wars” trilogy by mother-and-son writing team Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple that will be told in both male and female voices, while in Rogue (Nancy Paulsen), Lyn Miller-Lachmann uses the  voice of a teen girl with Asbergers to shed awareness on the syndrome.  The highlight of publisher previews often is the appearance of an author or illustrator, and Penguin's event last week was no exception. In fact, the publisher hosted a double header in the form of Andrea Cremer and David Levithan, the co-authors of Invisibility (Philomel). The authors wrote alternating chapters in this book about a romance between a boy who’s been who has been cursed with invisibility and the girl who has the ability to see him. It debuts next month. Want to join the Twitter conversation about Penguin’s new releases? Look for #pyrprev.