An author who struggles to read a restaurant menu, has written and illustrated a series of children's books.

L.J Kidd has dyslexia, which means her brain struggles to identify particular letters and turn them into words as most people would.

She was bullied at school and was considered "the dumb kid" because most teachers assumed she simply could not read.

"At school we all had to learn typing, so I learned how to type and I was really, really fast, but I couldn't read anybody's cursive writing," she said.

"I could only match the actual words so even though I could type 60 or 70 words a minute, I couldn't get a career out of it because I couldn't read."

Now an author of several books, L.J Kidd channels her own experiences into her stories.

The colourful books tell the tales of everyday animals like bees, dogs and snails and how they overcome challenges in the way she has overcome the inability to process letters into words.

She said has traumatic memories of school.

"I was led to believe I was just dumb."

"I was clever at art and clever at sport, but when it was time for reading and writing I would escape the class somehow," she said.

"I was under the radar because I was constantly bullied and put down and I'd had enough," she said.

Inspiring children to be creative

Rex The Dog painted by L.J Kidd ( Supplied: L.J Kidd )

Several schools in north Queensland where she lives have contracted L.J Kidd to speak to students about using their creativity and encourage them to write, regardless of shortcomings they may think they have.

"Especially being a writer, the first thing people ask is 'how many books have you read' or 'who is your favourite author' and I tell them I don't read," she said.

Rex the Cattle Dog is the latest release in a series of books L.J Kidd has published.

"Rex was my dog and he died two years ago and when he died I was beside myself that I missed him so much I wrote a book about him."

All illustrations in L.J Kidd books, including Tales of Snails, Beemadoo plays his dream, V8 Rex and Rex the Cattle Dog, are also by the author.

She said her father noticed something was odd with her at a young age and encouraged her to try different forms of art.

"My dad picked up very quickly there was something different about me, so he put me in a trade school and I became a photographer."

Stigma or misunderstanding of dyslexia still exists but L.J Kidd said it had improved greatly since her school days in the 1970s.

"Even now as an adult with the simplest little thing, it still gets to you," she said.

"With or without glasses reading a restaurant menu is the hardest, especially when the food is described in some fancy language," she said.