EVERYONE has a book inside them, or so the saying goes.

Ellen Vale always felt she had – but the difficulty was getting it out.

The mum-of-three, from Bowers Gifford, grew up as a Romany gipsy and never learned to read or write as a child. Her family moved around the country, travelling as far as Scotland, Wales and Cornwall and rarely staying for more than a few days.

The children’s wardrobes were a rainbow of different uniforms and school days certainly weren’t the best days of her life.

Her experience of school was being picked on by classmates and ignored by teachers and Ellen and her brothers and sisters would fight tooth and nail to skip school – and her overworked mother would often cave in.

But Ellen always loved stories.

When she became a mother she would make up bedtime stories for her children and always dreamt of writing a children’s book.

Painful childhood memories and a fear of failure held Ellen, 31, back. She started school and quit three times, but, with the encouragement of her supportive husband Billy, she joined Basildon Adult Community College and, after three years, passed her City and Guilds Level Two in English this month.

Writing a book is daunting enough for any wannabe author, but Ellen has now written a children’s book, “Amber and Alice Meet a Dragon”.

She said: “It just feels like I can achieve whatever I want now. My dream has come true and I can write for children now.

“If it doesn’t get published, at least I have got it out of my head and on to paper.”

Ellen, who settled in Bowers Gifford when she was 16, has few regrets about her Romany upbringing and speaks fondly of her carefree childhood.

She said: “It was amazing. We got to make new friends every time we stopped. We would move on then meet people again months or even years later.

“The community is so amazing. We all stick together.

“We could let the children play out and parents would watch them all together. It was nice to see different places and people.”

Her mother could read and write and tried to help her five children, but they lacked the rigour of a regular classroom.

As a result, Ellen grew up in a world populated by strange symbols that meant little to her.

When she and Billy, who is from a settled community, watched a film with any foreign script he would have to read the subtitles to her. When Ellen would map read on a journey, she would have to count the junctions rather than use road names.

It was partly Ellen’s own experience of parenthood that forced her to finally bite the bullet and pick up a pen and paper. When she enrolled her first son, Billy Junior, at South Benfleet Primary School, she could not read the forms and had to go into the school for help.

She feared Billy would come home and she would be unable to help him with his homework.

The school, in Benfleet High Road, has been really supportive and understanding of Ellen’s background. Gipsy traditions mean Ellen is not meant to let her children out of her sight, making school trips impossible.

But Ellen has got around this by becoming a parent helper at the school – and going on school trips with her children.

She said: “I just want them to have a life I never had. I want them to embrace schooling and enjoy reading and writing and not take it for granted.”

Amber and Alice Meet a Dragon, which has been illustrated by Sophie Thotakos, from Billericay, is about two girls playing in a park, who imagine they are in a cave. They meet a dragon who at first appears scary, but turns out to be friendly.

The dragon could be a metaphor for literacy. Reading and writing was always scary for Ellen, but at the same time mesmerising.

She has slain her dragon by making it her friend.

Ellen, who is looking for a publisher for the work, said: “I’d like to say, if there are any gipsy girls who see this in the newspaper, they don’t have to be a housewife and just raise kids and make sure the house is immaculate.

“They don’t have to stay stuck at home, day after day, they can do whatever they want.

“If they are scared, just get over it because learning to read and write is the most important thing they can do.”