LAST Saturday a group of eight authors embarked on a tour of bookshops throughout the North East, Teesside and North Yorkshire, to promote their range of books, mainly aimed at children.

The idea was to encourage people to support their local bookshops for National Bookshop Day, which takes place in October each year.

These children’s books were varied in stories and characters with the object of getting children interested in reading at a young age.

The group of eight included James Nicol, from Howden, East Yorkshire, James Harris, from Middlesbrough, Dan Smith, from Newcastle, Vashti Hardy, from Lancashire, Alex Foulkes, from Stoke, Bethany Walker, from Scunthorpe, Lisette Auton, from Darlington and Sally Nicholls, from Drakes Bookshop in Stockton.

The tour, organised by Drakes’ Bookshop, started off in Whitley Bay and called at bookshops at Drakes, Stockton, the Guisborough Bookshop, the Book Corner at Saltburn, the White Rose Café in Thirsk and Ripon Bookshop.