Australian prime minister turns children's author

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd is about to become a published children's author, with a tale about the lives of two family pets at one of his official residences, a spokeswoman said on Sunday.

The new book, 'Jasper and Abby and the Great Australia Day Kerfuffle', follows the adventures of Jasper, a real-life black cat, and Abby, a golden retriever dog, and will be published later this month.

A spokeswoman told Reuters that Jasper and Abby were "very much genuine members of the Rudd family". The book, published by Allen and Unwin, will go on sale later this month with proceeds going to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital.

Rudd has co-authored the book with actor Rhys Muldoon, a presenter of a long-running Australian children''s programme, 'Play School'.

Australia Day is a national holiday celebrated every year on January 26, the day in 1788 when the First Fleet landed in Sydney to found Britain's first colony in Australia.