At 6 years old, Manuel Alguacil could barely hold his copy of The Lord of the Rings but the hefty tome was enough to get him hooked on writing.

Three years later, Manuel has become one of the youngest authors in the world with the publication of his book Thok, the Vain Dragon.

The 38-page fantasy tale, inspired by J. R .R. Tolkien’s book and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, has made Manuel, 9, the toast of the Spanish literary set.

Next week he will take a day off primary school to sign copies of the book at the Madrid Book Fair, where he will mix with authors such as Ken Follett, Javier Cercas, the author of Soldiers of Salamis, and Ildefonso Falcones, the author of the bestseller Cathedral of the Sea. Manuel, from Aranjuez, south of Madrid, prefers reading to watching television or playing football. He wrote his first story when he was 6 with a tale intended as a Christmas present for his grandparents.

When he wrote a second story, his style caught the attention of an agent from the Spanish publishing house Neverland Ediciones, who knew his parents.

The publishers signed up Manuel, who has also illustrated Thok. The book, which is being sold for €13 (£11) is about a baby dragon that looks in the mirror and thinks he is ugly. He hides until his mother reassures him that he is only growing up, and the young dragon learns to stop being vain.

Manuel learnt to read when he was 3 but within a year became bored by children’s books.

By the age of 6 he had read The Lord of the Rings in two weeks. His copy of the trilogy was in one volume, which he could barely pick up. Next he read all seven books from the Harry Potter series.

His parents, Ana Alguacil and Manuel, insist that their son is “just like any other child”.

He likes his PlayStation, swimming and running around like any other child, they said. He makes far fewer errors and uses a wider range of words than most children of his age, however.

“It’s understandable. Children have a huge memory and as he reads a lot he remembers lots of words,” said Mrs Alguacil, a teacher.

Manuel seems unfazed by the interest in his writing and is keener to be the first Spaniard in space than the next Cervantes.

“When I grow up I want to be an astronaut, and if I can’t I want to be an archaeologist or a writer,” he said.

Jacobo de Castro, a partner in Neverland Ediciones, said: “We are not publishing this book because of his age, but because we think it is good. It was launched yesterday and has sold 1,000 copies.”

Manuel has already written his second book, Save Cstia, which is about a unicorn.

In 2006 Christopher Beale, 6, from Switzerland, became the youngest author in the world with the publication of his 1,500-word book This and Last Season’s Excursions.

Young talent

• Britain’s youngest published author is Libby Reese, whose 60-page self-help book, Help, Hope and Happiness, came out when she was 9. The book, based on her experiences when her parents separated, raised thousands of pounds for the charity Save the Children. Her second book about moving from primary to secondary school was published in 2007

• Amelia Atwater- Rhodes, from the United States, had her first fantasy novel, In the Forests of the Night, published in 1999 when she was 13. The book, published by Random House, was a success and Atwater-Rhodes, now 23, has published nine subsequent novels

• Ankit Fadia became Macmillan India’s youngest author at 15 when his book, The Unofficial Guide to Ethical Hacking, was published in 2001. He now blogs for CNN and runs training courses including Little Genius — the Ankit Fadia Way. Fadia says that he has been employed by the Singaporean Government to defend against hackers

Source: Times database

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