A six-year-old girl has become one of Britain's youngest authors - after being discovered by a publisher also aged six.

Forest Last wrote and illustrated her own title after winning a competition run by Esse Loewenthal.

Despite their tender ages, the pair have combined to create Skye Starts School - a tale about a little girl's first day in class.

The book has been published by British Isles Publishing, which was set up by Esse and his family.

The youngster launched the firm after penning his own book aged THREE - making him one of the world's youngest authors.

Forest entered Esse's competition to find other young writers - and came out as the winner.

The young duo met for the first time on Monday (June 9) after spending months as pen pals.

Forest, from Peterborough, Cambs., said of her win: "I am very proud of myself. It was a big surprise. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside. "

"I love books because there was a bookshelf next to my cot when I was little and I always used to grab them to entertain myself."

Mum Enya Last, 36, says Forest wrote the whole book herself and even illustrated the characters using watercolour paints.

She said: "For as long as I can remember she has always picked up books and loved books. "

"She learnt the whole process of how to write and illustrate a book. She is very artistic and loves painting and drawing so it was very important to her to illustrate the book herself."

"She absolutely loves the book. She has a copy in her bedroom, and we always read it together. She is very proud of it. "

"She is always coming up with stories and is very imaginative. But we have never put it into a book before."

The story, which took her five months to write, follows a girl who is scared on her first day of school as she deals with a range of hormones.

After finishing her story, Forest did a reading and book signing at a nursery which is owned by her mum and dad Arron Last, 38, for kids who are about to start school themselves.

Another family member then spotted the Very Young Authors competition - run by Esse - in a newspaper and suggested she apply.

And last week Enya got the exciting call that her daughter had won the contest.

Heartwarming video shows the moment Forest was thrown a surprise party by all her family and friends to tell her the good news.

Enya said: "I am unbelievably proud of her. She really is a marvel. I am just in awe of her brain really. "

"It is incredible. My whole family are just beside themselves. When we first started homeschooling, she couldn't read and now she is writing her own books."

Forest and Esse then met on Monday, when Esse visited the nursey to read his own book Baby Fox.

On why he picked her as the winner, Esse said: "I chose Forest as the winner because the book was very very good. "

"The book talks about the hormones in the human body, and that is very important for children to know about. "

"I'm very very happy that the competition is giving other children to read about Forest's book and also to encourage children to make books. I can't wait to start the next Very Young Author's Competition in July!"

Forest has now begun writing her second book called Skye Goes to the Doctor to help children cope with another daunting life experience.