Octogenarian Comedian Betty White Lands Penguin Book Deal

Showbiz veteran Betty White has been cresting quite the wave over the last few months. After years of work on TV shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls, White's celebrity has been boosted thanks to colorful talk show appearances, hilarious Super Bowl commercials and a grassroots Facebook campaign that landed her a guest-hosting gig on Saturday Night Live, making her the oldest person to host the sketch comedy show.

Now, that hot streak has extended from Hollywood to publishing circles. According to Publishers Weekly, the 88-year-old actress, currently starring in TV Land's ensemble sitcom Hot in Cleveland, has sold two books to Penguin (PSO) imprint Putnam.

Listen Up!, a memoir that will discuss what White has learned over "her incredibly varied, decades-long career in Hollywood" on topics like love, sex and aging, is slated for publication next spring. And The Zoo and I: Betty and Her Friends, provisionally on Putnam's spring 2012 publishing schedule, will include stories and photographs that capture the "daily life of [White's] animal friends at the zoo." (White is a long-time board member of the Los Angeles Zoo and "passionate supporter of animal health and welfare.")

But White is no stranger to the book world. Her 1995 tomeHere We Go Again: My Life in Television, which chronicles her earliest days on the small screen and her 18-year marriage to Password game-show host Allen Ludden, is being reissued by Scribner (CBS) on Oct. 12. She's also co-written numerous books with singer/entertainer Tom Sullivan relating to her animal rescue work such as Together: A Story of Shared Vision and Alive Day: A Story of Love and Loyalty.