CLACKMANNANSHIRE children welcomed a visit from the award-winning illustrator Korky Paul last week.

He shared his talents in creating colourful characters with pupils at Clackmannan, Craigbank, Fishcross and Tillicoultry primary schools on Thursday (26 March) and Friday (27 March).

Korky, known for his imaginative characters in books such as Winnie The Witch, The Fish Who Could Wish, The Dog That Dug, The Wonky Donkey and more, dropped in on the Wee County as part of the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour.

He said: “What a road trip and what fun I had in Fife and Clackmannanshire. The schools were wonderful with enthusiastic teachers and pupils who were so appreciative of Scottish Book Trust and Scottish Friendly’s initiative to promote reading and drawing.” Korky’s school visits are always popular and give youngsters the chance to enjoy some of the wonderful stories he has illustrated, where they also receive ‘Dinosaur Portraits’ of themselves and do some drawings of their own.

The Scottish Friendly Children’s Book tour, which goes to both primary and secondary schools, works to inspire a love of reading, writing and illustration in the younger generation.

Calum Bennie of Scottish Friendly the tour sponsor, said: “It’s great that children from Clackmannanshire have really taken to Korky – having met him myself, it comes as no surprise. As well as his amazing talents as an illustrator, he’s so interesting to listen to and I’m sure kids in the area have been enthralled by his events.

“This is the eighteenth year of Scottish Friendly’s collaboration with Scottish Book Trust in bringing children’s writers and illustrators to over 70,000 young people the length and breadth of Scotland. Over this period, the tour has brought some wonderful writers to schools and libraries including leading names like Michael Morpurgo, the author of ‘War Horse’, and Jacqueline Wilson.

“The Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour has been such a success with children in Scotland that in 2008 we took the tour south of the border for the first time and its reputation has grown there too, with leading Scottish writers like Vivian French, Chae Strathie and Jonathon Meres taking the tour to towns and cities including Hull, Birmingham and Brighton.” Check out our Facebook page for all the 30 photos.