YOUNG people have the chance to learn more about Sir Walter Scott and his work thanks to a local author.

Kelso-based author Alasdair Hutton wrote Scotland's Greatest Storyteller, a short history of Walter Scott's life, in a bid to help young people and adults reading the author's famous stories and poems for the first time.

Alasdair, who celebrated the 250th anniversary of Sir Walter Scott's birthday last weekend at ScottFest (held at Abbotsford), where he signed copies of his book, said: "He [Walter Scott] was a quite extraordinary Scotsman so I thought a simple book telling some of the history his life might tempt younger people and older people who have not read him to try his stories."

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Alasdair is a Life Member of the Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club and was its Chairman for three years.

He added: “The stories Scott told are remarkable. He was the father of the fast-moving historical novel and his fame spread around the world but in recent years he has quite unfairly gathered a reputation for being too dense and unreadable.

“That simply is not true and I hope when people read about his extraordinary life from losing the power of his right leg to polio as an infant to losing all his money half a century later they will be fascinated by his incredible achievements and how much he managed to pack into his 61 years."

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Scotland's Greatest Storyteller is the second book Alasdair has written about Walter Scott. His first, Mustard and Pepper, was about two Dandie Dinmont terriers who lived in the home of Sir Walter Scott, Abbotsford.

Scotland's Greatest Storyteller features illustrations by Shalla Gray and can be purchased for £8.99 via Curly Tale Books.