Published: 18 June 2012

By PAVAN AMARA

THE author 'The Gruffalo', one of the biggest hits in children's literature, met primary school pupils at Camden Town Library this morning.

Julia Donaldson, the Children's Laureate, talked to a class of year two children from Edith Neville Primary School in Somers Town at the library inside the Crowndale Centre in Eversholt Street.

“I love seeing the children become enthusiastic and seeing their creative juices flowing,” said the 63-year-old who grew up near Hampstead Heath.

“Reading is the key to a wonderful room full of pleasure, and acting the stories out brings children into that world. As soon as you get them there, they're motivated to go into that world again and again, and so they read more, because that's the key to it. Even if children don't have books in the home they develop their thirst for reading at events like this.”

The 90 minute session with the children came as part of the Pop Up Festival of Stories, which has funding from Camden Council, The Guardian newspaper, the Arts Council, and University of the Arts London Central St Martins.

Ms Donaldson used today's session to focus on her 1993 best-seller 'A Squash and a Squeeze', which tells the story of a collection of animals living in an elderly lady's house.

Children used animal head dresses to get into character, used their bodies to form the house, and animal voices to act out lines in the book.

The school's headteacher Sean O'Regan said: "First hand, me and many of the other teachers have seen these sessions are powerful. That's why we have made sure all nine of our classes get to work with an author at some point. We see the follow up, and it really affects reading and writing, for children who are nervous about that it opens up a new world, they become inquisitive."

He added: "It is a privilege for our children to meet an author at the top of her craft today. She's perfect for the age group today, which is aged six and seven, I strongly believe they'll remember this for a long time to come and its bound to nurture a love of books."