When Linda Franks composed a little ditty for her youngest child, she had no idea it would someday become her debut book.

But that is exactly what has happened and Mrs Franks now hopes that what proved to be her inspiration can help other parents too. Her book is called '5 Is A Magic Number!' and was written for her youngest son, Yannis, and is based on a story she made up to help him count.

"The book is actually an expanded version of a ditty that I wrote for him," said Mrs Franks who had always wanted to write, but who instead decided on a more financially secure career in the reinsurance sector.

"I taught the alphabet, numbers, spelling, etc. to all of my children in a singsong manner and '5 is a Magic Number!' was my way of teaching Yannis how to count to five. He was very young, just over a year old, when I noticed his ability to grasp concepts very quickly. I created this ditty to see if he understood counting. He did."

But it wasn't until a few years after that she thought that it might work as a picture book. "So I created the first four verses," she said. Five is a magic number, so it was only natural to ask if one, two, three or four were magic numbers."

The storyline asks which number is a magic number. "Is one a magic number? The text then helps the reader to visualise the concept of the number one by expressing that we only have one little nose on our face and one little belly button in a special place," added Mrs Franks. "As the target audience is the very young child they are easily led to believe that five is a magic number, because they have five little fingers on each hand and five little toes on each foot. This helps them to identify the counting concept."

The illustrations for the children's book were done by Sona Jacob, an Indian graphic artist. "I provided him with the text and asked that he create pictures that were vibrant and attuned to the young child," Mrs. Franks said. "He did a fantastic job!"

Being community minded is something that comes naturally to Mrs. Franks she has been involved in several facets of her children's school Gilbert Institute, as a former PTA president and treasurer, and running the 1st Paget Brownies which meets at Gilbert Institute.

Asked if she had been inspired by some of these children, she answered: "My writing is inspired by my children and their friends. My next writing project is a book about time travel, which is loosely based on my second son Arian and two of his best friends who all attended Gilbert."

The book will look at how children develop and become more indepedent and how they learn to deal with diversity and different people.

The book was self-published by Artbookbindery.com, a Canadian company. "Initially I tried the 'try and find a publisher' route, but it is very difficult if you do not have any contacts in the industry," she explained.

Her target market is from children aged three and up. "This book is a great book for the very young child to inspire them to love the spoken word," added Mrs. Franks. It is also great for pre-schoolers and a P1 beginning reader as the repetitive nature helps them to remember the words."

In addition, Mrs. Franks is also in the process of releasing an educational website for children called www.littlegeniusclubhouse.com. The website aims to foster a love for reading and provide math assistance for children in Kindergarten to Primary 6. The book signing will take place at the Bookmart Brown & Co. on March 14 from 11.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. The 20-page book is priced at $11.95 and is available at Brown & Co. and from Mrs Franks.

It is also available on www.amazon.com. The ISBN number is 978-1-897403-78-5.