YOUNG people found their inspiration in the world of literature as schools in Craven were transformed for World Book Day.

Pupils seized the chance to dress up as characters from the pages of their favourite books.

In a couple of cases leaves from famous volumes weren't the only vegetation getting in on the act, as potatoes were turned into literary characters and a book tree also took pride of place.

At Skipton Academy chimney sweeps, young wizards, Alice and even Miss Haversham went to school for the day.

Pupils in Years Seven to Nine, plus teachers and support staff, embraced the annual celebration of reading and dressed up as book characters for the day.

There was a book-themed assembly and a competition to write a horror story as around a third of the school joined in the fun.

Up in the Dales you could have been forgiven for thinking you'd stumbled across Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft - in fact it was Burnsall Primary School showing their support and enthusiasm for the global initiative that celebrates authors, illustrators, books and reading.

All the pupils and even all the teachers dressed up for the day as characters from their favourite books. In keeping with the spirit of the day they organised a range of events for the children, including a visit from children’s author Andy Croft, who helped pupils from both Burnsall and the nearby Cracoe and Rylstone Primary School to write their own ‘book in a day’.

The headteacher of the linked primary schools, Julie Morton Lee, said: “Having Andy come in and run this event was truly inspirational for the children, and the calibre of the stories they wrote was absolutely outstanding.”

An added innovation at Cracoe and Rylstone Primary School was the creation of a huge papier-mache tree by the pupils.

The whole school took part in the art project, in which the children used recycled newspaper to make the spectacular 6 ft structure.

The pupils chose to paint the book tree a rainbow of colours. They had each written what their favourite book was and why they like it on tags, which were then tied to the branches as leaves.

Chloe Vereker, who is part of the Friend’s parent group which supports the school, said: “Books are so important to our children’s learning. We wanted to create something really special which stood as a very visual celebration of that. The children all got stuck in and really enjoyed making and creating the tree.”

Ms Morton Lee said: “It was fantastic to see the pupils and the parents group bring such a wonderful idea to life. The pupils all really enjoyed pondering on their favourite books and have all been inspired by each others’ suggestions.”

The tree will now stand in the classroom and the pupils will be invited to continue to add new book suggestions as spring passes, so that the tree will be in full ‘leaf’ by summer.

To celebrate World Book Day, parents also went in to the school to read from their own favourite books for the pupils. The children were also encouraged to dress up as their favourite book character.

An innovative approach was also to be found at Thornton-in-Craven Primary School. Acting headteacher Katie nSmith said: "We decided to have a change from dressing up this year and the children were asked to decorate a potato as a book character.

"The children's entries were superb, with entries from a range of children's books. Winners were picked from each year group and all the children received a prize and certificate for entering.