A newly-published novel from a Co Down schoolboy has just been listed on Amazon and looks set to sell overseas as well as in the UK.
Seven-year-old Elijah Hewitt from Dollingstown started writing his debut book, The Clue-jitsu Masters: and the Missing Map, last October and published it on Amazon last month.
But there's no rest for the talented youngster who attends King's Park Primary School in Lurgan, as he's already planning out the second book in his series.
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Elijah’s story follows a group of boys who uncover the secrets of Clue-jitsu. It is down to the boys to save Clue-jitsu’s hidden treasure, solving a series of mysterious clues that lead them to pieces of an ancient map.
Elijah based his book in Northern Ireland and enjoyed having the team of boys featured in it travel to some of our most famous local landmarks.
He began by mapping out the whole plot and once he had done this, he dictated the words to his mum, Jo, so that she could type them out.
"Elijah absolutely loves reading and it's one of his favourite things in the whole world to do," Jo told Belfast Live. "He has a brain full of ideas but getting him to sit down and put those on paper is a different thing."
"When he came up with the original idea for the book we thought it would be a short story of a few pages but when we started writing we realised that there's a lot more to it.
"We sat down and went through the whole plot, put it into chapters and he dictated and I wrote. We lit the fire, had lots of snacks and got through it - probably the life of a typical writer!"
Jo added: "We finished the book just before Christmas and the book has now been self-published on Amazon. Some of his friends and family have already read and enjoyed it.
"The ending of the book leads into what might happen in a second and where so watch this space. While it was tough for him to get the book finished, Elijah is really pleased that he did it.
"He's even inspired a few of us in the family and some of our friends to think about writing too because if a seven-year-old can then anyone can."
The Clue-jitsu Masters: and the Missing Map is available to purchase now on Amazon.
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