WaldenMedia has acquired the rights to Isabel Allende's young adult trilogy featuringthe teenage adventurer Alexander Cold.

Thefirst story in the series, City Of The Beasts, will be produced by Barrie Osborne of The LordOf The Rings fame.

DavidRothenberg will adapt the screenplay from Allende's novel and serve asco-producer. HarperCollins, which previously teamed up with Walden onchildren's smash The Chronicles Of Narnia, is the publisher.

Setin the Amazon rain forests, City Of The Beasts charts the exploits of 15-year-old Alexander and his12-year-old friend Nadia Santos as they explore the jungles with Alexander'sarchaeologist grandmother in search of mythical animals.

"WaldenMedia's commitment to collaborate with world-class authors and great children'sliterature continues with our partnership with Isabel Allende," Walden Mediaexecutive vice president of production Alex Schwartz said.

"Allende'strilogy follows in the grand tradition of The Chronicles Of Narnia and The Dark Is Rising of thrilling fantasy epics that are ideally suited tobecome successful family franchises."

CityOf The Beasts became aninternational bestseller after it was published in 2002. The subsequent booksin the trilogy, Kingdom Of The Golden Dragon and Forest Of The Pygmies, were published in 2004 and 2005.

JimMeenaghan and Tommy Finkelstein negotiated the deals on behalf of Walden Media,and Schwartz and Jared Mass will oversee the project for the company.

Osborne is represented byattorney Mark Stankevich, and Rothenberg is represented by Todd Hoffman at BWCSand attorney Carlos Goodman.