THEY say a dog is man’s best friend but for one Valleys woman her pooch is the inspiration for a new series of children’s books.

Sylvian Day, 58, of Argoed, has just had her first book published in the series named ‘Frank and friends’ based on her black Labrador Frank.

And Mrs Day has got the family in on the act too, with her sister-in-law Linda Price illustrating the books and her husband Ian even dressing up as a giant dog to help promote the series.

The books tell the tales of Frank the dog and his animal friends and their adventures.

The first book, which has just been published by Old B a k e h o u s e Publications, is named ‘The B i r t h d a y Party’.

The second book is in the process of being published with Mrs Day aiming to produce a series of 20 children’s books.

This is the first publication for Mrs Day who has been writing for the past 15 years and she has funded the publishing herself.

She said: “I kept a diary when taking Frank for walks and then decided to turn the diary into a set of children’s stories.

“I had written children’s stories before but never really did anything with them but my husband pushed me to try and get these ones published.”

Mrs Day also held a book signing at Argoed village hall at the weekend to which more than 200 people turned up to see the author and her helpers.

She said: “It was a fabulous day.”

The Birthday Party is now available in local bookshops and Mrs Day is hoping for it to be available in bigger chain stores soon.