Sir Lenny Henry brings laughs and learning to the Black Country on World Book Day

Sir Lenny Henry was back in his home borough of Dudley to support World Book Day on Thursday, March 2 by putting on a special event at Brierley Hill Civic Hall for more than 600 schoolchildren all about his love of books.

Hosted by lyricist and rapper Kenny Baraka, the event was one of many taking place across the country to promote World Book Day, a day celebrating the benefits of reading for pleasure and supporting a habit of reading books for children.

Sir Lenny was on great form as he told some of his favourite jokes and read from his first children's book The Boy With Wings, while also talking about how his Auntie Pearl took him down to the library and made him get a library card.

He said that was what made him fall in love with books and reading and going through books by Charles Dickens, as well as comic books and graphic novels.

He also talked about his new book, a short book called The Boy With Wings: Attack Of The Rampaging Robots, his own contribution to World Book Day and one of many which schoolchildren can redeem at a shop with a voucher purchased from school for £1.

He said: "World Book Day is this extraordinary thing where I was asked to write a short version of 'The Boy With Wings', where you get a voucher at school for £1 and you can go and redeem it at a shop, such as Waterstones or WH Smith, and get a free book.

"I'm not the only book as there are others - although I urge you to get my book because it's really good and there's a robot in it - and the day is about getting kids getting access to books.

"Every since my Auntie Pearl took me down to the library and told me to take books out, I've been in love with books, and I love reading them and I love writing them and making up these alternate worlds and basing them in the Midlands.

"I read all these books and found they didn't have black people in them and while I love them anyway, I kept thinking how cool it would be if there were people who look like me in them and this book does that."

Sir Lenny also said that he had found out that around 500,000 children nationwide didn't have access to books. He said that had to change and praised World Book Day for providing that access to youngsters.

He also spoke about his own reading habits and favourite things to read when he was a young man.

He said: "I liked The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Water Babies and books by Dickens, and I was also a massive fan of comics reading the Beano, Dandy, Spiderman, Batman and all that kind of stuff.

"I had a real grounding in not just English stuff, like the Famous Five and Secret Seven and Jennings, but also supernatural horror stuff and, when I was 16, I went through a real horror thing.

"My wheelhouse, if you like, was fantasy and superheroes, which is why I've written Attack of the Rampaging Robots for World Book Day and also the Book of Legends, which is a quest book like Tolkien, but with people of colour in it."

The main character in The Boy With Wings, Tunde, was someone Sir Lenny said was very much like himself when he was 12, with a wonky nose and curly hair and being bullied at school, and said it was a character who could inspire youngsters.

He said: "He overcomes the bullies and gets a gang of friends around him and suddenly realises he's got superpowers and can actually do something and contribute, and it's all about a kid overcoming stuff.

"I think we've all, as kids, had to overcome things and I think that if the books we read can help us navigate that stuff, then that's good."

Playing to more than 600 schoolchildren, Sir Lenny said he hoped that the talk and presentation could help to influence youngsters to get creative and make their own world.

He said: "I try to give them tips about writing, which are all to do with wearing your pyjamas, sitting at the kitchen table and eating Hobnobs, and I think all these tips are useful.

"Anything that makes them want to write anything that makes them want to disappear into a dream world and create anything that makes them want to read is brilliant and I think World Book Day is brilliant.

"My books are funny and have jokes in them and send them to imaginary places and I think that's good, and that's certainly how I ended up where I am today."

To find out more about the World Book Day books on offer for youngsters, go to worldbookday.com.