I’ve been keeping an eye on press releases from T.A.P creators, Fourth Story Media, and it looks like the first book in the series, and the website are ready to be launched soon.

This is one of those projects that has me, as someone obsessed with story-telling through different mediums, going crazy with anticipation. I’m so excited to see this, and I really hope it’s successful.

Up until this point, books like, The 39 Clues and, Skeleton Creek have touched on mixing traditional books with web content, but nothing has been as ambitious in terms of audience participation, interaction and discussion, as what The Amanda Project aims to do.

Be sure to check out the interactive press release, announcing the partnership of HarperCollins in the U.K. and Fourth Story Media, the slideshow has some intriguing visuals.

Replacing Toon Disney, this newly launched boy brand has me in cross-platform heaven. On top of the cable channel, they’ve got the token MySpace and Facebook pages, but even better, there’s downloadable content on both iTunes and Xbox Live, the latter being the icing on the cake for me. A quick look around my living room shows the only electronic product Disney XD isn’t available to me is the clock on the wall – that’s impressive.

Before I come across as a total fanboy, let’s talk about some actual content. For starters, you better be into skateboards and secret agents – they’re everywhere on the site. I’m still on the fence over some of the program lineup, particularly flagship show, Aaron Stone. Sure, the whole “schoolboy super-spy” shtick has been done before with Alex Rider and Young Bond, but Canadian production, Aaron Stone seems a little too similar to CBBC’s M.I. High for my liking. There’s got to be a new angle for this kind if thing?

Between the likes of Hannah Montana and the Jo-Bro’s Disney has the girl’s market at this age wrapped up. I’m curious to see if the same thing happens with the male audience here. Right now I’m questioning some of the program output, but Disney’s approach to saturating every content medium, even at this early stage, leaves me awestruck.

Fourth Story Media will soon be launching a new brand/book/website/social media extravaganza, named, “The Amanda Project”. Aimed primarily at 12-14 year old girls, but certain to attract older users as well, the idea pushing T.A.P. along is a cross-platform mystery intended to find out one thing – who is Amanda, the enigmatic new kid in school?

This is an original attempt to create a multimedia brand featuring a book as one of its components, but the reason the project has me so interested is because I had a similar idea last summer, utilizing a similar blend of media albeit with a completely different story and target audience. The obvious roadblock I faced was the lack of available talent to work on such a huge project, but Fourth Story Media have enlisted the help of ace design and usability agency, Happy Cog, to bring The Amanda Project to life.

Earlier last year I talked about T.A.P. with Lisa Holton, Founder of Fourth Story Media and ex SVP of Disney Children’s Books. My impression was that even though the cards were being played, quite rightly, close to the chest on the brand’s actual content, there was a great deal of optimism and anticipation about how the project would be received by audiences once all of the components are available.

I don’t disagree with the choice to make the brand girl-specific – research shows the target audience both read more than boys at this age, and are also more likely to contribute to an online community, but I’m curious to know why Fourth Story Media didn’t choose a non gender-specific theme. For instance, how would a male 12-14-year-old be received in the online community if he wanted to be a part of it and had something useful to contribute?

The Amanda Project already fascinates me and I’m certain it will be a big success. No doubt I will be sharing more thoughts about this soon, but in the meantime, take a look a peek at the teaser below and watch this space for more news as the brand becomes closer to launch.