Sir Lenny Henry returns to the Midlands ahead of World Book Day

Sir Lenny Henry has been back in his hometown of Dudley today in a bid to increase reading with young children ahead of World Book Day this week.

He read parts of his new book to around 600 children at a Dudley school and spoke about the importance of increasing reading levels amongst young people.

He also went on to mention why he loves being back in his hometown.

Sir Henry said: It's really weird, my sister lives up there! Not there in this room, she lives a few minutes away.

"So it's really nice, I always love coming to the Midlands it's like coming home. It is coming home. And people are so lovely here so, it's a joy.

He went on to address the amount of children who don't have access to literature.

Sir Henry said: "It's 500,000 kids that don't have access to books, that's a lot of kids. So anything that helps them, and World Book Day is a charity, so they give these vouchers to schools, they're a pound and they can buy a book.

"There's other ones you can get, but this is clearly the best one. I think that's really good. Anything that encourages kids to read, and to get lost in their imagination, and to be creative."