AN eight-year-old boy who wrote a children’s book during lockdown is to donate all the proceeds to charity.

Jacob Carnes, who lives in Malton, wrote Alfie’s Secret Dragon as a way to connect his family during the coronavirus pandemic and to raise money for a good cause.

The book tells the story of a young boy called Alfie who wakes up one night to discover a dragon asleep under his bed.

Set in Malton, it follows the pair on a series of adventures, from taking the dragon, called Lightning, to school, to an accident in the playground and then on the ride of a lifetime on the dragon’s back.

Jacob, who attends Weaverthorpe Primary School, drafted in help from his whole family, including both sets of grandparents, to help write some of the chapters.

All the money raised from sales will go to NHS charities and to his school.

He said: “I am really pleased with the book and can’t wait for my friends to read it.

“Lockdown was a difficult time because school was closed and I couldn’t see my friends. I wanted something to do but I also wanted to do something to raise money for charity.

“I had the idea for the story after I had a dream about a dragon and so I decided to write about it.

“Getting my family to help was great because it brought us all closer together during lockdown. We had a lot of fun coming up with some of the chapters and they all gave me a lot of support.

“I want to raise money for the NHS as well as my school because they are both amazing so I hope it sells lots of copies.

“I hope everyone likes the book.”

Jacob’s father Nick said: “We are really proud of Jacob. To have such a good idea for a story, write it, publish it and then to raise money for charity is brilliant and really enterprising.

“We loved helping him with the ideas for the book and we are really pleased with the end result.”

As well as penning the story, Jacob has published the book himself which is available from Amazon in paperback at £6.99 and ebook at £3.99.