When Judith Yaxley started writing letters to her grandson James, she told him it was a jungle out there - a jungle inhabited by Elly Fant, Sammy the Snake, Simeon the Shark and Chammy the Chameleon.

The 61-year-old of New Close Road, Nab Wood, Shipley, began writing letters to the six-year-old, who lives in Kent, last year to help improve his writing skills.

The little boy, who dreams of being a marine biologist, was soon asking his "nonna" to write poems about pterodactyls, sharks and chameleons.

So she did.

The former art teacher, who was born in Idle, said: "When the letters turned into poems James began to suggest themes. But they were nothing simple.

"This carried on for a while and then his younger sister Alice wanted to join in.

"So, I responded with poems about themes she was interested in, things like ballet and kittens."

A year later and the poems have been collected into an anthology and published, with the first copy landing on Mrs Yaxley's doorstep this week.

She said she had picked names of publishers randomly off the Internet, sent off copies of her poems and been lucky enough to get a positive response.

Kite Publications agreed to publish the poems and asked her to illustrate the book and make it interactive.

Mrs Yaxley said: "Attached to each poem are some suggestions to encourage the children to think about what it is about.

"Parents and grandparents can get involved and use the book to interact with the children and stimulate them."

Mrs Yaxley lives by the motto 'Do everything - you can change your mind later'!

The mother-of-two began working for Bradford and Airedale Mental Health Services as a creative arts instructor after her children started school and rose through the ranks to become a manager.

She gives talks, gives art classes, acts as a mentor to aspiring people and is taking singing lessons in her spare time.

Mrs Yaxley said she may collect some of her other writings and publish another book for adults at some point.

But she said that before this she will have to write some poems for her daughter's children when they are born.