CELEBRATED author Gervase Phinn officially opened Bradley Primary School's new library on Wednesday.

Mr Phinn entertained the pupils and guests with extracts from his books and poems, using a puppet to illustrate his stories.

The children dressed as their favourite characters for the event -and the best fancy dress entrants in each class were given a book token.

After cutting the ribbon, Mr Phinn chatted to his fans, which ranged from young children to their grandparents.

The author of more than 50 books, Mr Phinn said: "I did a few stories and poems with them. I used to be a school inspector for North Yorkshire and I have visited Bradley School several times - although I never officially inspected it.

"It is a super school and goes from strength to strength with very supportive parents and lovely children."

He said that a library was an important facility in any school.

"Reading is the fundamental tool of learning. If parents can do one thing for their child it is to read with them. Reading opens doors, it is very important. Any celebration of reading such as book days or buying a book for Christmas just enhances the reading experience," he said.

"This library is just the right size, with custom-made book shelves. It is lovely and welcoming with a good selection of books."

The library has taken the best part of a year to complete and follows the addition of a computer suite to the school last year.

It has a pleasant outdoor area where the children can take their books to read and a computer cataloguing system which they can use to find books.

Headteacher Ella Preston and teacher Maxine Murgatroyd were the driving force behind the new facility.

"Previously they had a little area of shelves in the doorway," Mrs Preston explained. "We had some help from the school library service on designing the new area and have spent over £3,000 on new books. It will be used for research and computer work as well as library work."

Mrs Murgatroyd said that the children had been very excited about the new area. "They are looking forward to getting in there," she said.

"We live in a computer age but I think hands-on availability of books stimulates their imagination. Books are still very important to them."

The popularity of Harry Potter was in evidence in the children's fancy dress but classical books such as Little Women, Pinnochio and the Lord of the Rings were also represented.

More than 120 people attended the event and all seemed to enjoy Mr Phinn's speech.

"It was absolutely brilliant, he is a really interesting man and a great speaker," said Mrs Murgatroyd.

Fred Holmes chairman of the governors, added: "The library is very important for the literacy programme and to encourage reading. It also provides a resource base which children can use for individual study on topics they might be doing in class. It makes a big difference if they can come into the library and look at what is on the shelves at their leisure."