DIDN’T you just love all the Bolton News’ pictures of pupils celebrating World Book Day in local schools?

The ingenuity of parents, and youngsters, devising outfits as diverse as Mary Poppins, Wally and Miss Havisham proved not only the unacknowledged creative talent at home but also the enduring power of books.

Without reading books, in whatever form they prefer, children miss out on a wonderful world that is the key to much of their most crucial development. And the fact that parents not only help them in this but celebrate this special occasion so gloriously is a cause for joy.