Record-breaking tortoise tale

RECORD BOOK: More than 800 island children have co-written a book, which has won an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.

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A children's story about a giant tortoise in Vanuatu has broken a Guinness World Record for the most authors - 838 of them.

A charity in the Pacific island state, YouMe Support Foundation, staged the Guinness record breaking event last week for the category: How Many People To Write A Story In 24 Hours

Vanuatu artist Guy Deroin drew 35 cartoons showing scenes of the adventures of two kids and a giant tortoise as they roamed the 85 tropical islands of the Vanuatu archipelago.

The charity bused in the 838 children who then wrote the story based on the cartoons, each contributing one sentence.

In 10 hours, the school children and a handful of adults, broke the record, held by Novum Verlag Gmbh in Nechenmarktt, Austria - a record created in July 2007 by 797 participants.

The only Guinness World Record adjudicator in the Asia Pacific region, Chris Sheedy oversaw the attempt.

The story will be turned into a book which will be presented to the Port Vila cultural museum.