A PEMBROKESHIRE author has decided to celebrate the special relationship that exists between small boys and their heroic grandfathers who did (so they claim) very exciting things when they were young, and who had (so they say) excellent and scary adventures.

Brian John, from Newport, has written around 80 books. Now he has built on some of the tales he told to his own grandsons (now aged 10 and 12) to produce his first children's book, entitled 'The Strange Affair off the Ethiopian Treasure Chest'. Set in the year 1948, it's a fast-moving story about a gang of eight-year-olds who get involved with a strange treasure chest, some nasty burglars, a reclusive old lady, and some very incompetent policemen. There is not a vampire or a time-lord in sight, and the story just might have been true... and at the back of the book there are tips for kids on how they can build a den, make a trolley, and cook twist over a campfire.

"In the story I have tried to capture the innocence of childhood in the post-war years," said Brian, "at least for those of us who lived in small towns or in the countryside. For the present generation of small boys, it was all so long ago that almost anything might have been possible.

In researching and writing the story I have also come to realise that grandfathers haven't had a very good press over recent decades. In much children's literature they still smoke pipes and sit in armchairs all day long, reading 'The Times'. In contrast, grandmothers are often portrayed as glamorous, active, and sometimes even eccentric. This is an outrage, and something must be done about it!"

Brian hopes that the new book will encourage grandpas to read more bedtime stories to their small grandsons, and that the small boys who read it for themselves will ask their own grandfathers what exactly they got up to in the '40s and '50s. Maybe, in response, they will get the truth - and maybe not! After all, Just William is now a grandfather, and so are Nigel Molesworth and Dennis the Menace - and they certainly have a few tales to tell about their youthful exploits.

This is all very frivolous, but there's a serious side too.

"Small boys are so constrained and protected nowadays," said Brian. "This is just terrible. Boys should be allowed to let their imaginations run riot, to build dens and have adventures. OK, the world is a risky place, but it always was risky, and children need to take responsibility for their own safety, just as their grandpas did in the Good Old Days."

'The Strange Tale of the Ethiopian Treasure Chest' is published tomorrow (Saturday) by Greencroft Books at £5.99. It will be available from bookshops throughout Wales.