According to Variety, Fox 2000 has optioned Stuart Hill's fantasy bestseller "The Cry of the Icemark," with Courtney Pledger and Sarah Radclyffe of London-based Jigsaw Films attached to produce.

The book, which has sold 25,000 hardback copies since its U.K. publication a month ago, will be launched Stateside in April via Scholastic.

Set in a mythic, quasi-Nordic prehistory, story concerns a teenage queen fighting to save her homeland from a powerful invading army. She and her best friend, a witch's son, must bring together an alliance of werewolves, vampires and talking snow leopards to combat the invaders.

Cunningham, best known as the publisher who discovered J.K. Rowling, has a first-look deal with New Line, with whom he is developing a movie version of Cornelia Funke's novel "Inkheart."