CHILDREN have become passionate about Pippos after the publication of a book based on Chesil Beach.

The Pink Pippos of Portland was written by island author Sandra Fretwell and tells the fictional story of the Pippos, whose job is to arrange all the pebbles on Chesil Beach.

The book, published at the end of last year, has now become a favourite in schools and early learning groups around the area.

The book has Sandra's daughter Sophie as the main character and Sophie's class teacher at Wyke Regis Primary School Maria Blackwood has used the book in class and invited Sandra to the school to talk about it.

Mrs Blackwood said: "It's always nice to have an author who is the parent of someone in your class.

"It makes it more real for the children if it's someone they know. We've invited Sandra to come and show the pictures and talk about how she made the story. The children thoroughly enjoyed the story and loved the illustrations. We sometimes divide the class up into smaller working groups and one of the groups wanted to be called the Pink Pippos of Portland."

Sandra has also been asked to talk about the book at Holy Trinity Infant School, and the book was mentioned in Eye Contact, a newsletter published by the Dorset Early Years Development, Childcare and Playwork Partnership.

Sandra's husband Stuart who edited the book said the Pippos could find themselves on the Dorset and East Devon World Heritage website which has a section devoted to Chesil beach.