City's children celebrate power of storytelling

Reading books is a "special" thing to do and an "important" activity, children with autism in Bradford have said ahead of celebrating World Book Day.

The annual global event, on Thursday, sees children dress up as their favourite fictional characters, with many schools also hosting reading-themed events.

Visiting a second-hand book sale in the city with fellow students ahead of the big day, Evan, a pupil at Bradford Christian School, said he thought reading "will help you with stuff in life".

Miss Rowe-McIntosh, a teacher at the school, agreed, saying reading prepared youngsters well for the future: "Getting young people to read will expand their skills for college and sixth form."

Prising children away from their screens and allowing them to physically "pick up and flick through the book" to expand their vocabulary and immerse themselves in a story was also "highly important", Miss Rowe-McIntosh said.

"I think it's really important, especially being a Special Educational Needs organisation," she added.

Miss Rowe-McIntosh said a book featuring the characters known as Biff, Chip and Kipper, about whom hundreds of stories have been published since 1986, was probably the first she ever read and enjoyed.

Also attending the sale, where over 40,000 second-hand books were for sale for £1 or less, Bradford Christian School pupil and Harry Potter fan Kaya said being surrounded by so many books was "incredible".

She said picking up books "feels special to me", adding that she wanted to become a writer when she was older.

Meanwhile, fellow pupil Sophia, who said she liked Roald Dahl's book Matilda, said she was "really excited" to be at the sale and was looking for books for her mum and baby sister.

Second-hand bookseller Stephen White, who hosted the event in Bradford, said: "We started off with about 40,000 books, we've probably got between 25-30,000 left."

"We wanted to do an event that gets as many books out to children as possible but also for prices that people can afford."

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