BOOKS came to life at schools across the borough when children dressed as their favourite literary characters.

Basingstoke pupils joined in the spirit of World Book Day by attending school wearing fancy dress costumes of a character from their chosen book.

The annual event gives children and adults the chance to celebrate authors, illustrators, books and reading, and this year marked the 18th since it first began.

At The Clere School, in Burghclere, students and teachers used their creative talents to assemble their outfits, with a wide variety of characters on show including Where’s Wally and Dennis the Menace.

The Hobbit was a popular choice of book for many pupils, with students dressing up as various characters from the fantasy story by J. R. R. Tolkien including Legolas and Bilbo Baggins.

Students at the school, in Earlstone Common, also took part in a variety of book-themed activities throughout the day last Thursday, including writing book reviews, designing bookmarks and taking part in discussions about books.

At lunch time there was a literature quiz and a cake sale.

Prizes were awarded to the students wearing the best costumes who received book tokens for their efforts.

Jenifer Klepfer, the school’s librarian, who dressed as Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby, said: “It’s great to see the students’ love of books come to life and for them to have the opportunity to participate in such an international event.

“It is fun to engage with the greater reading community and wonderful authors as part of the World Book Day.”