Best-selling author helps UK bookshops

Author of the Alex Cross books, James Patterson, has announced he is donating a quarter of a million pounds to independent bookshops in the UK.

Any independent bookshop with a dedicated children's section can apply for a grant of up to £5,000.

Patterson has already launched a similar scheme in America, where donations have helped convert a school bus into a mobile bookshop and helped provide free books for underprivileged children.

Sophie van Brugen reports.