Canadian author Brian Francis's comedic Canada Reads novel Fruit, the story of a 13-year-old boy and his talking nipples, is being adapted into an animated series by Toronto production company Hawkeye Pictures and Ottawa's Big Jump Entertainment.

The news was reported by Deadline on Jan. 28.

Set in the small Ontario city of Sarnia in the 1980s, the 2004 book follows the life of junior high student Peter Paddington, a sweet and awkward boy who is bullied for his weight. Peter is startled, as anyone would be, when his swollen "cherry" sized nipples start sharing their opinions with him out loud.

Peter's fantasies of being popular and finding a "boy friend" to share a locker with in ninth grade are often interrupted by his nipples's advice, as well as the antics of his parents, two sisters and closeted Uncle Ed.

Fruit, Francis's debut novel, was a Canada Reads 2009 finalist, when it was defended by Jen Sookfong Lee.

Francis is an Ontario-born writer and columnist for The Next Chapter on CBC Radio One. He is also the author of the novel Natural Order, the award-nominated YA novel Break in Case of Emergency and memoir-in-letters Missed Connections.

Pat Mills, director of the film Guidance and for episodes of CBC's Strays, has been tapped to adapt the animated series.