The excitement was palpable as dozens of youngsters filled Cedars Hall in Wells this week to be entertained by children's author M.G. Leonard.

Best known for her book Beetle Boy, she has since written 18 best-selling mysteries.

More than 500 Year 6 pupils from local schools bussed in to one of the four events during the week hosted each year by Wells Festival of Literature.

They could buy copies of the novels at a special discount, thanks to publisher Macmillan who also donated a competition prize of a stack of books for a school library.

This was to celebrate yesterday (Thursday 2/11) being the publication date of her newest book The Ice Children. Wookey Hole Primary was the lucky winner.

Leonard, whose name is Maya, bounced on to the stage and promptly engaged the youngsters with tales of how dreadful her own grades were at school.

A natural performer with a background in theatre, she was a riveting speaker, full of fascinating facts about the rhinoceros beetle that features in Beetle Boy. From there she explained how she had gone on to write a series of train adventures and bird-watching mysteries.

A forest of hands went up as youngsters vied to answer questions that would establish the skills common to both bird watchers and the detectives who feature in the stories.

The Ice Children is a fairy story, very different from the rest, and the audience sat gripped as she read a passage from it. After a few questions – there could have been many more had time permitted – pupils headed excitedly to the foyer to pick up their books and get them signed.

The festival ends on Saturday 4 November with tickets available on the door from Kimberley Wilson's early start at 10.30am on the foods we eat, with an afternoon of poetry, and the last event at 7.15pm with Andrew Harding on Ukraine's 'Dad's Army' of pensioners.