AN ‘EXTRAORDINARY’ schoolboy who let his imagination fly is celebrating after his fantastical tale of a pig landing on the moon was turned into a book.

Nine-year-old Benedikt Isfeld Benediktsson, of Bagby, has already achieved what many writers spend their lives striving for after his first book, The Pig Who Wanted to Get to the Moon, was launched in Thirsk this week.

Husthwaithe Primary School pupil Benedikt said the tale took him two hours to write and he is already working on a second instalment featuring the same pig.

The novel centres on a pig who is determined to fly to the moon and seeks help from others, with an underlying message to encourage youngsters to have confidence in themselves.

His mother, Gemma Magnusson, who has won British and World strongwoman titles, said that she was “incredibly proud” of Benedikt’s achievement, particularly because he was so keen to spread positive messages.

She said: “He wanted to write a book and it happened. That is an incredible achievement for anybody, let alone a nine-year-old. I have always read stories to both him and his brother and this was a book that he has come up with himself.

“The fact that it has such a beautiful message for children to be confident and happy makes me more proud than anything.”

Benedikt, who can speak Spanish and Icelandic, was described by Mrs Magnusson as wise beyond his years. She said: “I would back anything he wants to do, he has already got his own YouTube channel and he is so entrepreneurial for a nine-year-old.”

Benedikt, whose father is Icelandic strongman champion Benedikt Magnusson, said he was looking forward to writing more books and wants to demonstrate that anything is possible if you believe in yourself.

He said: “If you really want to do something and really focus on how you do it then you can achieve anything. Don’t say ‘if I ever get that house’, say ‘when I get that house’.”

Benedikt said he chose a pig as his central character because they are his favourite animals and he has ambitions to film story-writing tutorials on his YouTube channel.

His book was officially launched at the White Rose BookCafe, in Thirsk, on Tuesday and Benedikt and his mother attended a launch party at the venue, where he signed every copy of the book available to buy at the shop.