FUNDING from a world-renowned publisher will allow schoolchildren to create their own book from scratch.

Forum Books, in Corbridge, was one of 10 national projects to successfully apply for a grant from HarperCollins’s Literacy Project Grants for Independent Booksellers scheme to finance a project which will see the bookshop’s author-in-residence Sarah Davy work with pupils at Wark First School.

Forum was awarded £1,200 for the scheme, which will see published author Sarah, who lives in Wark, work with children in years 3 to 5 to help them design, illustrate and write their own book. The pupils will then host a book launch event at Forum Books.

Sarah said: “This project is about showing children they can be involved in books, from illustrating and writing, and it’s about giving them an insight into everything that goes into books. It’s about bringing out something in the children they may not know is there.”

Wark’s deputy headteacher, Mike Boucetla, will oversee the sessions with Sarah in the new academic year.

He said: “It’s very exciting and it’s raising the profile of writing and literacy throughout the whole school. We have had a big push throughout the year to use books to develop the power of reading, and they are excited to produce something that will be out there.”