SHOES that come to life overnight will be delighting young bookworms when a Bewdley author's first story hits the shelves.

Beverley Saunders of Meadow Rise has created The Shoeshuffles as characters for her book Alive and Kicking which is the first in a planned five-part series.

The fantasy story, aimed at children aged between five and nine, has been illustrated by Kidderminster artist Sandra Hipwell.

Beverley, 50, also enlisted the help of Areley Common First School pupils to read through her drafts and made several visits to the school to read to the children and get their views on the story.

The Shoeshuffles begin life as shoes which are taken to a charity shop and thrown into a bin.

Overnight they grow bodies, legs, arms and heads to become shoeman beings and run away to the woods where they build a town of their own called Shoeville.

Beverley, whose husband Peter gave her the original idea for the characters three years ago, spent a year developing the book and sharing ideas with her family and working with Sandra on the illustrations.

She said: "I wrote the bare bones of the story and then embroidered bits on at other times. In its original form the vocabulary was too advanced because I had concentrated on getting the story down on paper so I had to simplify the words.

"The storyline grew easily once I had the kernel of the story concept but the character form was more difficult as they had to be physically capable of carrying out various tasks. I eventually settled for Sandra's suggestion of people with over-large shoes."

Beverley added: "I am very proud of it. I am delighted with the response to the book. I think it deserves to be a success."

The book's illustrator, Sandra, 58, who specialises in watercolours, said she had enjoyed working with Beverley.

The self-employed bookkeeper added: "It has been really good fun. It was difficult to get the characters out of Beverley's head.

"I had to draw them the way she had visualised them when she wrote the book."

Areley Common First School headteacher Simon Tapp said the pupils had enjoyed reading the book and learning about the writing process.

He added: "What they loved were the different characters based on the different shoes.

"We wanted to support a local author and encourage children to understand where books come from and what inspired writers to write."

Alive and Kicking is available from Bewdley Books and from the website www.shoeshuffles.co.uk, where there are also colouring sheets and games for children.