Around 50 children piled into a library in Wembley to hear a magical tale told its author.

Saman Shamsie, joined children from five local Brent schools, at Preston Community Library in Carlton Avenue East, to launch the summers’ Readers’ and Writers’ challenges.

The children’s author, who is the library’s children’s laureate and a school teacher in her native Karachi, India, read from her books The Magical Wood and Slothful Slough-Off The Snake.

Her stories sent the young audience on a spell binding journey through Pakistan and around the world. The two very different adventures weave an exquisite poetic style with powerful messages for children up to 13 years.

Ms Shamsie then took questions from the audience of budding young writers before giving the children a copy of one of her books to keep.

She has donated copies of her books to the library for the Six Book Summer Big Friendly Reading Challenge run by the Reading Agency.