With every studio in Hollywood looking to tap into ""Harry Potter"" and ""Chronicles of Narnia"" fever, DreamWorks Studios is placing its bet on the magical ""Children of the Lamp"" series.

DreamWorks has licensed the film rights to ""Children of the Lamp,"" author P.B. Kerr's popular series of novels about two globe-trotting twin tweens invested with magical powers. The young leads in Kerr's series are 12-year-olds John and Philippa Gaunt, who discover their talents after their wisdom teeth are extracted and their mysterious Uncle Nimrod invites them to travel to England. Only later do they learn that they are from a family of djinn, or genies, who pass for human but have the power to grant wishes.

Nina Jacobson, the studio executive who shepherded ""Narnia"" into production, brought Kerr's series to DreamWorks, where she will oversee production for the studio's Adam Goodman. The producing team has hired Oscar-nominated screenwriter Lee Hall (2000's ""Billy Elliot"") to pen the movie adaptation. He also is know for the British television screenplay for ""The Wind in the Willows.""

""My kids and I read the first book for fun and fell in love with Philip Kerr's premise, characters and sense of humor,"" Jacobson said in a statement. ""We all agreed that we needed a special writer who could capture the book's unique sensibilities, and Lee Hall was our first choice. Lee read the book with his kids, and they insisted that he sign on.""

For Jacobson, formerly Walt Disney Motion Picture Group president, this is the second project she has announced at Color Force, the production company she formed under the DreamWorks banner in December. She announced earlier this month that she also plans to produce the sci-fi thriller ""Dominion,"" about a human charged with overseeing a troop of android soldiers. The project was brought to her by Color Force producer Damien Saccani.

While at Disney, Jacobson oversaw such box office hits as the three ""Pirates of the Caribbean"" movies, ""The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,"" ""The Princess Diaries"" and ""The Sixth Sense.""

Source: LA TImes"