MORE than 100 Ullapool Primary School children from six different classes kept a local bookshop busy last week.

The excited young readers visited Ullapool Bookshop to exchange World Book Day vouchers for titles specially produced for the event.

Manager Katharine Douglas said: "In total this has been a record-breaking year for the take up in World Book Day books, with almost 350 books redeemed so far to seven different primary schools throughout Wester Ross and Sutherland. It was an absolute delight to welcome six classes from Ullapool Primary to choose and ‘buy’ their World Book Day books. My hope is that this encourages more reading in children and certainly the enthusiasm on their faces reflected this. In fact some children were reading the books before they even left the bookshop.

"The children were impeccably behaved and showed a real credit to the teachers at the school, especially when other customers were also present in the bookshop. Not all children have the opportunity to read or to own a book, so being able to take part in World Book Day, can help and hopefully stimulate reading and the wonderful joy that books can bring."

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The remaining World Book Day books are still available until March 26 and cost £1 each or are free in exchange for a WBD voucher.

Ullapool Primary head teacher Mark Squires said: "They loved coming down, and felt really welcomed into the bookshop, which is great. We’ve done quite a bit of work on WBD in school, and it was nice to have that complemented in the bookshop. Staff and children came back buzzing, which is really nice when it is something as simple and straightforward as walking down the same road to the bookshop in the village."

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