An eight-year-old Ceredigion boy has written a 100 page novel about Welsh mythical creatures.

Leo Jones and his mother Amy Jones, who live on the outskirts of Aberaeron, have spent the last year working on the book they’ve called Mythical Mission 1: The Portal Opens.

It follows Kayden and his family as they uncover the mystery behind a series of strange portals opening across the world - releasing mythical creatures from each country’s mythology.

Predominantly set in Wales, Kayden encounters a variety of creatures from Welsh mythology, and learns the truth about the mysterious portals which brought them to our world.

The book shows snippets of Kayden’s journal, with sketches of the mythical creatures he encounters. Each sketch has been drawn by Leo Jones.

Leo has printed a hardcopy of the book and hopes to publish it on Amazon soon. He said: "I wanted to write a book that other children would like reading because I love books like Beast Quest and Dragon Rider. I love knowing that it might inspire other children to write their own stories."

This is not the first time the two have worked on a story book as part of the boy’s homeschooling, though his mother was surprised to see how invested her son became in this story, and it has developed from the original idea of ‘doing something about dragons and mythical creatures.’

The former teacher said: “He’s a very creative child, he has a lot of ideas. Sometimes he’ll do them for a couple of hours and drop them, but this has been something we’ve worked on across the year.

“He’d been having a chat with a friend about mythical creatures and it went from there, it was just so organic. Leo’s always loved Dragons, but it’s hard to say where his interest in mythology comes from. He got a book about Welsh mythology which is how we researched all the different creatures that appear in the book.”

“We’ve always written books together, it’s how I’ve taught my children to read and write. I’ll write the book as they dictate it and then we’ll go through it together. This was no different, until I started seeing where the story was going.

“Homeschooling can be very nurturing, children have an intrinsic motivation to learn because it is done through subjects which interest them. If I told Leo that he had to write 100 pages within a year, it would completely remove his motivation. But because he wanted to do it, he has been asking - and nagging - me to do more and more of it.”

The book is available for purchase on Amazon.

The pair also hope to stock the book in local bookstores, and want to offer free copies to libraries in Ceredigion. You can reach them by emailing Mrs Jones.