AUTHOR MG Leonard told children why beetles were brilliant at an event in Leeds.

With a trilogy of beetle stories to her name Maya revealed she had been scared of insects before she started writing about them.

At a talk for primary school pupils, organised in partnership with Ilkley Literature Festival at The Grammar School at Leeds, the author had her audience in stitches as she demonstrated the 'heebie-jeebie' dance that she used to perform at any creepy crawly encounter.

Describing herself as "a storyteller, not an expert or scientist", she entertained the children with the tale of her transformation from insect hater to keeper of pet beetles and bestselling author of books about beetles.

Having worked in theatre on stage adaptations of children’s books, Maya knew the ingredients for a good story: "You need an amazing adventure with compelling characters to make your readers turn the page, and the villain must be uber bad," she said.

She also needed a totally original idea and, whilst searching for some terrifying creepy crawlies to accompany her villain, Maya discovered the wonderful world of beetles.

With 360,000 species of beetle discovered so far, Maya explained: "Beetles are almost everywhere and I realised beetles are good. We use insects to scare in stories, but let me tell you something, if I took you to a forest and you saw no insects the forest would be dying."

Now beetles are the heroes in Maya’s books. Her first book Beetle Boy won the Branford Boase Award in 2017, and Beetle Queen and Battle of the Beetles complete the trilogy. A fourth non-fiction book about beetles is due out this year.

Pupils from St Margaret’s C of E Primary School in Horsforth were among those taking part in the event.

Year 5 pupil Cora Dixon said: "It’s special to meet a real author. Her books are so exciting and I like the idea that beetles are so clever. How can anyone be scared of beetles?"

GSAL has sponsored the Ilkley Literature Festival Children’s Festival each year from 2012, and has now entered into a new arrangement to sponsor the festival’s Spring Lecture Series from 2018 to 2020.