Oscar-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg will narrate the audiobook version of Colin Fischer, an upcoming YA novel by screenwriters Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz.

Razorbill publisher Ben Schrank shared the news at BEA’s Young Adult Editor’s Buzz panel. Miller and Stentz’s  film credits include Agent Cody Banks (2003), Thor (2011) and X-Men: First Class (2011).

Colin Fischer follows the journey of a fourteen-year-old high school freshmen with severe Asperger’s syndrome. This book, a “passion project” for Miller and Stentz, marks the writing team’s debut as young adult authors. Shrank and assistant editor Gillian Levinson will edit. Publication is set for November 8th.

Novelist and publishing executive Ben Schrank has mastered the art of compartmentalizing his life.

During business hours, he is the publisher of Penguin Young Readers Group Razorbill imprint, but he has maintained a writing life as well. Farrar, Straus and Giroux will publish his adult novel (Love Is a Canoe) in February.

We caught up with him to ask about how he manages to juggle these two different roles.

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Hip-hop artist Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson will write a semi-autobiographical novel called Playground. The young-adult book stars “a thirteen-year-old schoolyard bully who finds redemption as he faces what he’s done.”

Penguin Group (USA)’s Razorbill imprint will release the title in January 2012. Laura Arnold will edit the book. Agency Group agent Marc Gerald brokered the deal.

The rapper (pictured, via) had this statement: “I wanted to explore how a kid becomes a bully. I drew on events from my own childhood and adolescence, but was excited to see the story take on its own life. This book would have been very helpful for me growing up and now that I have a teenage son, it is my goal that this will have a positive influence on all teenagers.”

Thirteen Reasons Why author Jay Asher and The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things author Carolyn Mackler have signed a deal with Penguin’s Razorbill imprint for a young adult novel they co-wrote.

The Future is Us will come out in November with an initial printing of 500,000 copies. Publisher Ben Schrank negotiated the deal with two literary agents, Laura Rennert of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and Jodi Reamer of Writers House.

Here’s more from the release: “The Future is Us is set in 1996, when less than half of all American high school students have ever used the internet. Facebook will not be invented for several more years. Emma just got a computer and an America Online CD-ROM with 100 free hours. When she and her best friend Josh log on to AOL they discover themselves on Facebook … fifteen years in the future. Everybody wonders what life has in store for them. Josh and Emma are about to find out.”

Actress Jenny Slate and film director Dean Fleischer-Camp will turn their award-winning film, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, into a picture book. The video embedded above showcases the entire animated movie.

The children’s title will have an initial print run of 100,000 and is set for November release. Razorbill publisher Ben Schrank negotiated the deal with William Morris Endeavor agents Erin Malone and Kirby Kim.

Here’s more from the press release: “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On: Things about Me will feature oil paintings based on photographs of Marcel in his home environment and will be aimed at readers of all ages. Razorbill will simultaneously publish an enriched, interactive digital version of the picture book, and an audio version of the text, recorded by Jenny Slate, will be available as a digital download.”

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Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) and Penguin Group USA are teaming up for the third annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award–adding a prize for best young adult novel alongside the competition’s usual grand prize for general fiction.

In another rule change, the 2010 competition will permit novels that have been previously self-published. Authors can submit their work from Jan. 25, 2010 until Feb. 7, 2010. The judges will accept up to 10,000 total initial entries–5,000 entries in each category. Winners will be revealed June 14, 2010–earning a publishing contract with Penguin and a $15,000 advance.

Here’s more about the contest’s long process: “Amazon.com editors will select 1,000 entries from each category to advance to the next round. In the subsequent round, Amazon.com editors and at least one top reviewer on Amazon.com will read excerpts of the 2,000 entries and narrow the pool to 500 quarter-finalists (250 in each category). Reviewers from Publishers Weekly will then read, rate and review the full manuscripts, and 50 semi-finalists for each category will be selected. Penguin editors will evaluate the manuscripts of the 50 general fiction and 50 young adult semi-finalists, and choose three finalists for each award. Two panels of esteemed publishing professionals will then read and post their critiques of the top three manuscripts on www.amazon.com.”

Read more about the final judges after the jump.

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