CHILDREN, and quite a few teachers as well, dressed to impress as fictional characters to celebrate World Book Day.

At Lavington Pre-school in West Lavington, near Devizes, children and their parents put their imagination to the test to create a wide range of fancy dress costumes.

Deputy manager Nikki Turnnidge said: "Children and staff at Lavington Pre school were invited to come dressed up as their favourite book character to celebrate World book day.

"Children enjoyed coming in as BFG the Witch on the broom and the Gruffalo to name a few and all staff joined in to.

"Children were also asked to bring in their favourite books and we talked about the different characters and the stories. This is a great event to encourage children to enjoy reading books more rather than using I pads."

At Rowde Primary, near Devizes, there was also a wacky array of colourful characters pouring through the doors on Thursday. Included in the mix were three little pigs, Where's Wally, cowboys and soldiers.

Trinity Primary School, Devizes celebrated the day by receiving a bundle of new books for its library donated by Morrisons supermarket.

A spokesman for the supermarket said: "The books were gifted thanks to a partnership between the Morrisons Foundation and the National Literacy Trust. It aims to help children from local communities to fall in love with books and reading on World Book Day."

The books were presented to pupils by Michelle Hawkings, community champion from the Devizes store. She said: “I'm delighted to be donating these new books to a local school. There’s a great selection and I hope that every pupil will be able to find a story they will enjoy.”

Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Morrisons to bring the gift of reading by donating brand new books to primary schools throughout the UK.”

At Devizes School there was a week of special activities which culminated with World Book Day. Staff made sure they had as much fun as pupils by dressing as their favourite characters.

On Wednesday author Kathryn Evans was in school to sign copies of her book Beauty Sleep. She also did workshops for pupils from years 7, 8 and 9.