You guys! I’ve been dying to tell you about my favorite new Lerner series. I had to keep it under wraps until recently, but I’m officially in the clear to tell you all about it. What is this new series that has me so excited? It’s Pop Culture Bios (cover pictured left)! This series profiles some of the hottest young celebs today, with a special emphasis on singers.

Just in time for the upcoming school year, we’ve rolled out titles on Beyoncè, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, and One Direction. (Just tell me that even hearing the name One Direction doesn’t get you singing that ubiquitous lyric of the summer, “that’s what makes you beautiful”!) I hope the students out there will be thrilled to come back to class to find titles on these singers in their school library.

We did extensive research to make sure we’re presenting kids with the stars they most want to read about … assuming, that is, that you consider us poring over fluorescent pink, photo-saturated issues of Tiger Beat to be research. Hey, it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Yet as fun as creating this series was, let me tell you: making books that look and feel every bit as appealing as the splashy mags and websites aimed at preteens isn’t easy. We brainstormed all kinds of ideas to get the tone just right—from our “For the Win/Fail!” sidebars (which list stuff that each celebrity loves and hates) to our attention-grabbing photo spread in the back matter. That “effortlessly fun” vibe is definitely not so effortless to create. But at the same time, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love working with our talented group of Pop Culture authors to help shape the series tone. I hope that the love comes through to our readers when they check out Pop Culture Bios.

P.S. If there are any celebs (singers, movie stars, TV actors, or what have you) that you think the kids in your life would like to read about, please drop us a comment and let us know who they are. We love to hear new book ideas from our blog readers!