PADDINGTON Bear, Harry Potter and the Lorax and just some of the creative characters you might have seen walking to school.

To celebrate World Book Day yesterday, schoolchildren from across the county dressed up as their favourite fictional or real-life heroes.

World Book Day celebrates all things literature and illustrations and is a great way to inspire your kids to pick up a book and start reading.

This year marked World Book Day's 25th anniversary.

From children whizzing around casting spells like their favourite Harry Potter characters to creative manga character and aliens who love underpants, the options were endless for Hampshire's kids.

Proud parents from across Southampton and the surrounding areas have shared their photos with us.

Elna Colley handmade her son's Wold Book Day request after four-year-old Jacob asked to be a Greninja from Pokemon.

Elna said: "My son wanted to dress up as the Pokemon Greninja which is a very common one where you can't find outfits in the shop or online.

"So, I used an existing hoodie and made all the bits myself. He was very chuffed with it."

Nicole Walters from Southampton shared a photo of her son Lucus, a seven-year-old 'Potter-head', and five-year-old Iris, who dreams of being a star.

She said: "Lucas has recently fallen in love with the Harry Potter books. He’s listening to the audio books and reading them before he watches the films too."

She added: "We’re all made of stardust!

"Iris, just like the little girl in Stardust, dreams of being a star and also as one of four Iris can sometimes feel overshadowed and this is exactly what the book is about."

Waterstones has rounded up its must-read children's books for 2022 which features everything from Young Adult fiction to picture books.

There is also a line of 12 books that are available to buy with a £1 World Book Day token - find out more via the World Book Day website.