POP idol contestant, Zoe Birkett, has released her first children's book.

The book, My Favourite is... Bathtime, is part of a series of My Favourite is... rhyming poetry books, for children aged two to six.

Zoe said: "Rhyming poetry is excellent for toddler development, improving their reading, oral concentration and listening skills, the rhythmic patterns also exercise their brain muscle memory."

The book is being released on December 7 and is available to pre-order via www.myfavouriteis.com.

Zoe lives in London, but is originally from Darlington.

Last Monday Ms Birkett released the trailer for the book on her social media pages and within 24-hours her pre-order batch had completely sold out.

Zoe said: "I cannot believe it!

"Since having my daughter who is three-and-a-half years old, I've been very intrigued with children's development. Naturally, since I'm around her I take her to lots of musical classes and activities for children and see how much it makes an impression on their development."

At 16-years-old, Zoe became the winning female contestant of ITV’s Pop Idol in 2002.

Her video Get Happy went straight to number one and she signed a deal with Simon Fuller’s 19 Management.

Zoe went on to perform to over 250,000 fans on two national arena tours and sang five hits on the Pop Idol Big Band album which reached number one in the album chart and went triple platinum within a year.

Over the last ten years she has performed in West End musicals such as, The bodyguard, playing Whitney Houston, Thriller Live, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Respect La Diva and Rock of Ages.

Zoe will also be heading up North to star in the Christmas pantomime at Newcastle Theatre Royal this Christmas.