Children's Laureate Anthony Browne puts children in the picture as he begins tour

BOOK-loving schoolchildren were left enchanted after Children's Laureate Anthony Browne showed them the art of storytelling through pictures as part of a tour to promote reading in Scotland.

The illustrator shared stories with a group of children gathered at the National Galleries of Scotland yesterday.

He was launching the start of the Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour, an initiative which was founded by the Scottish Book Trust in 1998 with the aim of encouraging children across Scotland to develop a love of literature.

The Children's Laureate will this week be starting a tour of schools across eastern Scotland which will take him to Fife, Aberdeenshire, Angus and Moray.

In the 12 years the initiative has been running it has visited every Scottish local authority.

When he was crowned Children's Laureate in 2009, Mr Browne said he would use his two years in the post to focus on the appreciation of picture books. He said: "Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older."