Youngsters at a Huddersfield school celebrated World Book Day with a visit from a giant dog.
Pupils at North Huddersfield Trust School listened to a reading from the children’s book Mr Gum.
The main character is a nasty old man who has to keep his garden tidy and spends much of his time trying to stop Jake, a “big whopper of a dog”, from ruining it.
The Fartown school's library manager, Jacqueline McNulty, read an extract to year seven pupils while dressed up as Mr Gum – with her mum’s St Bernard dog playing Jake.
Jacqueline had sprayed her hair bright orange, donned a fake beard and wore scruffy clothes.
She said: “The children enjoyed meeting my mum’s dog Eric because he is so big and lovable.
“They understood why I brought him in when they heard the story.”
Most of the teachers also dressed up as other book characters to mark the occasion with outfits including Harry Potter and the Daily Prophet’s reporter Rita Skeeter, Dorothy Gale from the Wizard of Oz, Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth and Susan Sto Helit from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
Pupils, who were allowed to dress up as well, were given a list of characters and sent on a character trail to find out which teachers were dressed as which characters.
Around Huddersfield, youngsters went to school dressed as their favourite book characters and parents shared their pictures with the Examiner.
