NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Carrie Bradshaw from the hit TV series and movie "Sex and the City" is leaving Manhattan's Upper East Side and heading back to school.

HarperCollins Publishers said it had signed the author behind the hit series, Candace Bushnell, to write about Carrie's high school years in "The Carrie Diaries" which will be released in two books starting from fall 2010.

The publisher said in a statement that the diaries would focus on Carrie's formative years in high school, giving an inside look at her friendships, romances, and how she realized her dream of becoming a writer.

Bushnell, 49, said she'd always been interested in exploring Carrie's teenage years before she arrived in Manhattan, befriending three other women whose love lives, careers and wardrobes form "Sex and the City."

"Carrie in high school did not follow the crowd -- she led it. It was there that she began observing and commenting on the social scene," Bushnell said in a statement.

The books will be Bushnell's first teen novels, and the latest instalment in what has proven to be a successful franchise with global popularity.

As well as "Sex and the City", which was made into a hit six-season HBO TV series and movie starring Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie, Bushnell has written "Four Blondes", "Trading Up" and "Lipstick Jungle" which is now also a TV series. Her latest novel, "One Fifth Avenue", is due out shortly.

The two-book deal was negotiated by Alessandra Balzer, co-publisher of the Balzer & Bray imprint at HarperCollins Children's. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"Teenagers are rabid fans of the Sex and the City book and show. I can't wait to see what happens when Candace turns her sharp eye for social commentary to the other competitive jungle that is high school," Balzer said in the statement.

HarperCollins is a subsidiary of News Corp.