A contributor to the popular Focus of the Family series "McGee and Me" is launching a new tween fiction series aimed at helping children who feel that they don't fit in.

Robert West's "The Star-Fighters of Murphy Street" centers on Beamer, a transplanted Californian, who regards his new hometown as an alien world. His friendships with two other "different" kids result in escapades both real and imaginary as the three try to cope in a world where they don't feel they fit in.

The first three titles in the series from Zondervan come out in August: There's a Spaceship in My Tree!, Attack of the Spider Bots and Escape From the Drooling Octopod!

West has drawn inspiration for the books from some of his son's experiences, facing bullies and alienation at school partly due to autism. The books' theme is that "however much kids may be different from one another, each one is a special creation of God with gifts and a unique destiny."

Read more in the July 7 issue of Christian Retailing International.