Pupils become detectives in hunt for 'missing' books
Children at a school in Smethwick helped become detectives after their beloved library books went missing.
There was no cause for alarm at the Devonshire Infants School, in Auckland Road, with the 'crime' part of an event organised by teachers.
Youngsters were tasked with coming up with ways to convince the fictional thief to hand back the books which included writing their own stories about what the books meant to them.
Local police officers also got in on the act, coming into the school to hunt for evidence and finger prints.
There was also a serious message behind their visit, with officers speaking to children about the impact crime has on victims.
Deputy head teacher Sharon Gibson said: "We like to encourage children to be enthusiastic about reading, writing and telling stories so we take every opportunity to inspire the children which is why they love to write stories.
"This week they came to to find that a book thief had stolen every single book in school. He left us a letter saying that he hadn't had any books to read for Christmas so he decided to take ours because he loved stories. Our children talked in their classes about how we could get him to give us our books back and decided that if they wrote lots of stories for him he would return our books."
Suffice to say, the books were eventually returned, to the delight of pupils.
The thief even left a letter for the children, thanking them for their stories.
It would appear the books are now safe after he promised he would never strike again.
