Jamie Oliver announces his first-ever children’s book: ‘It’s a beautiful story’-Rachael O'Connor-Entertainment – Metro

Jamie Oliver is branching out from cookbooks as he announces he has written a novel for children.

The celebrity chef, 47, is no stranger to being published, with multiple books on how to cook and prepare healthy meals, but his newest venture is something ‘very special.’

Jamie revealed in a special announcement on Thursday that his first-ever children’s book, Billy and the Giant Adventure, would be released next year.

He explained he was inspired to write the novel after he began making up bedtime stories for his children, and eventually began recording his ideas as he struggles with writing due to dyslexia.

Jamie shares five children with his wife Jools: Poppy, 20, Daisy, 19, Petal, 13, Buddy, 12 and River, six, and in his announcement video he thanked them for helping to inspire the magical world of his novel.

‘Welcome to Waterfall Woods,’ the new author began proudly in the announcement posted to Instagram.

‘This is a very special magical world, from my head, into this book.’

Jamie, who has five kids with wife Jools, said working on the novel was his ‘passion project’ of the last four years (Picture: Rex)

He explained: ‘Because I’ve had so many of my own kids, putting them to bed at night, reading them stories, and because I’ve struggled with… writing and reading , I’ve had to be a bit more creative about how I do that.

‘They always used to say to me “Dad, dad, just tell me a story from your head.” So I started doing this but then I’d get lost in my own story, so I started recording them.

‘I built this little catalogue of stories which became this.’

The celebrity chef was overjoyed to make the announcement (Picture; Instagram)

He sid making up bedtime stories for his children – pictured here in their younger years – helped inspire him to write the book (Picture: Mothercare/Rex/Shutterstock)

He said the book was about four best friends who discover a magical world full of wild and wonderful creatures.

Jamie went on to share insight into all his characters, from the super-bright Jimmy to the feisty Anna.

In his magical world, each person contributes to ‘the rhythm,’ which Jamie says is a metaphor for the real world, asking: ‘How do you contribute to the environment? How do you make a difference?’

‘It’s a beautiful story’ Jamie said. ‘It hopefully will get you in tears, it will make you laugh – and it should make you hungry!’

He teased: ‘There is food in this book, but not as you’d expect.’

In a caption alongside the video, Jamie described Billy & The Giant Adventure as his ‘passion project for the last four years,’ and insisted it is ‘perfect for bedtime reading with your kids.’

The dad-of-five confirmed the book would be published by Puffin Books in April next year, and is already availablele to pre-order.

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It comes after the release of his most recent recipe book, One, dubbed the ‘ultimate homage to making your life simpler’ with every recipe requiring just one pan. 

However he caused some controversy while promoting the book, as he told an interview with The Times that he cooks best when he ‘thinks like a woman.’

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