This April the Lerner Publishing Group is set to publish, under its Graphic Universe imprint, three volumes in The ElseWhere Chronicles, a series of graphic novels targeting young readers from 9 to 14.  The 48-page, full color volumes will be available in both soft cover ($6.95) and in a super strong, hardbound library edition ($26.95).  Originally published in France where the series is known as Les Enfants d’ailleurs and won the 2007 Lyon Festival Youth Prize, The ElseWhere Chronicles is the story of a quartet of kids who find a portal to another world in an abandoned house where a film projector opens a passageway to a realm controlled by evil spies known as Shadows who may well have designs on our world.

The three volumes that Lerner is publishing simultaneously in April collectively narrate a complete saga, but the creators, writer Nykko, and artist Bannister (a contributor to the Flight Explorer anthology), are planning to create six more volumes in the series.  The ElseWhere Chronicles features strong, resourceful main characters (three boys and a girl) in an engrossing fantasy saga with echoes of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia--and Bannister’s art is both fluid and dynamic in the best European tradition.  This is a series that might catch on if enough kids get a chance to read it, and Lerner is planning a national publicity campaign with national advertising and special publicity aimed at children’s media outlets.

Graphic novels targeting tween and teen readers have proliferated over the past year and The ElseWhere Chronicles is a welcome addition to the burgeoning genre.