Best-selling author G.P. Taylor has developed a hybrid approach to storytelling for tweens and young teens with his new "The Dopple Ganger Chronicles."

Debuting next month from Tyndale House Publishers, the series launches with The First Escape, which tells of the adventures of twins Sadie and Saskia, living in an orphanage after being abandoned by their mother.

The story is told both through Taylor's writing)—which took him to the New York Times best-seller list with his debut novel, Shadowmancer (Charisma House/Penguin Putnam) )—and graphic novel illustrations.

Taylor said his inspiration for the series was his personal discovery of the life of P.L. Travers, who wrote Mary Poppins. The First Escape "came at a time when I was thinking a lot about getting children to read, and had to come up with a new concept to inspire a visually oriented generation, so I invented a chapter book with a lot of illustrations, the illustra-novella."

The idea of making the book's pages similar to flashing, interactive Web pages pushed Taylor to design his book as a "living thing that children can relate to," he said. Tyndale has contracted for five more titles in the series, with book two scheduled for release next fall.

Read more in the Sept. 8 issue of Christian Retailing.