A cute alien kid who sometimes struggles with his emotions takes centre stage in a new children’s book by a part-time supermarket worker.

Jamie Payne, from Cromer, has just published his debut children’s book called Biggle-Dink - The First Collection, which was inspired by his son, Elliott, who has special needs.

Mr Payne wrote and illustrated the book in between working at the town’s Morrisons and caring for his wife, Annie, who has several complex health conditions.

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He said: “The books explore different situations and scenarios where Biggle-Dink experiences these emotions and feelings and explains how and why they find them difficult to manage. 

“It is my hope that children who read the stories will be able to identify with the themes and put themselves in Biggle-Dink's shoes. 

“Maybe this will help them the next time they have some tricky feelings. 

“Biggle-Dink is also referred to as ‘they’ throughout, with no assignment of gender - this is purely so that both boys and girls, whoever they are or however they feel, can identify with them and the stories.” 

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Mr Payne said Elliot was a six-year-old with “the emotional resilience of a four-year-old and the intelligence of an eight-year-old”.

He said: "He often struggles with his emotions and can get quite upset at what may seem to be simple things, but to him they are serious and require time and effort to deal with them. 

 “Our home life has changed drastically in the past few years, even without the global pandemic.

"Prior to Covid I was a qualified mortgage advisor, and before that I had a 10-year career in catering and hospitality.”

Biggle-Dink is available on amazon.co.uk, and Mr Payne said it would also soon be on sale in Cromer. He is working on his second and third books in the series, and hopes to have them released in time for the summer holidays.