An event is being held in Melbourn to celebrate stories and inspire children to read more books.

The Festival of Stories, organised by Melbourn Primary School teaching assistant Jacey Stewart - in partnership with Talking Together in Cambridgeshire - will be held on Saturday, March 12.

Author Ellie Sandall will be reading from her 'Everybunny' books at 10.30am, and afterwards children can take part in a workshop with craft activities and drawing based around her books.

Royston Crow: A copy of the book Balancing Bernie by Ellie Sandall will be given to each child attending the morning workshopA copy of the book Balancing Bernie by Ellie Sandall will be given to each child attending the morning workshop (Image: Ellie Sandall)

Jacey will host a story time where she will read to the children, and then at 2pm there will be another workshop based around the book '50 Things To Do Before You're Five'.

There will also be a bunny hop around the village, with children searching for hidden bunnies in shop windows around Melbourn to be entered into a prize draw to win a pack of books.

Jacey plans to hide 60 books around the village for a book hunt, where photos of the books' destination will be posted to local Facebook pages.

She said: "My passion has always been around literacy and books. We are trying to get children a bit more interested in books and rekindle that love of stories.

"Not that many children are having exposure to books in this area. It's all just a big celebration of stories and to get people signed up to the library in the hub.

"I worked together with Talking Together in Cambridgeshire to get some funding, and so we have a story book and then an activity that links to the story book."

For example, after reading the book 'Not a Stick' the children will all have their own sticks which they can pretend are other things, such as swords, to show the power of the imagination.

Jacey said: "It's to take away the idea that a book is boring and you just flick through the pages."

The workshops are targeted at age five and under, but the bunny hop trail is for children of all ages.

Tickets for the workshops are free and can be picked up at Melbourn Hub.

Talking Together in Cambridgeshire works with communities across the county, including in Melbourn and Meldreth, to help children develop strong communication, language and literacy skills.