Local MP Sir Roger Gale is supporting a campaign run by charity The Reading Agency to encourage all primary school children to take part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, which launches across England and Wales on Saturday 14 July (although regional variations may apply).

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Research shows that reading for pleasure is a more powerful factor in life achievement than socio-economic background and that children who use libraries are twice as likely to be above average readers. The Summer Reading Challenge builds confidence and independent reading, while helping to prevent the dip in children’s reading levels during the long summer break from school.

The Summer Reading Challenge, a unique partnership between The Reading Agency and public libraries across the UK, last year got over three quarters of a million children borrowing, reading and talking about their favourite books.

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This year's Summer Reading Challenge is Mischief Makers; celebrating the 80th anniversary of the much-loved comic, Beano.

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To take part in the Mischief Makers Summer Reading Challenge, all children need to do is to head to their local library where they will be given a colourful collector’s map of Beanotown to keep a record of their reading journey. As children read at least six library books over the summer, they will collect stickers which will help them crack the clues and help Dennis, Gnasher and friends find the buried treasure!

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Sir Roger Gale MP said: “I hope parents, grandparents and carers in North Thanet will take their children to the library over the summer to sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge.  It’s free, inclusive and, most importantly, makes reading fun.  Last year 18129 children in Kent took part. I hope we can increase that number this year and remind local libraries what a valuable asset they are to us and our community.

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Children can use the special website mischief-makers.org.uk to create a profile, chat about books, and get help on what to read next, via the digital Book Sorter which already offers over 600,000 peer to peer children’s book recommendations in child-friendly categories. 

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The Summer Reading Challenge reaches children and young people of all ages. For pre-schoolers there is a mini-challenge while young people (aged 13 to 24) can volunteer and support younger children taking part, as part of The Reading Agency’s Reading Hack programme.  Volunteering provides a quality workplace experience for young people in libraries, inspires them to think about their future career and increases their employability as they gain useful life skills and confidence. Last year over 7,500 young people across the UK volunteered.

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Sue Wilkinson, CEO of The Reading Agency said: “At The Reading Agency, we believe that everything changes when we read and we know from our research how much fun families and children have when taking part in the Challenge. Mischief Makers offers intergenerational appeal and we hope this family friendly, accessible theme will inspire more children than ever to read over the holidays and make use of their local library throughout the summer and beyond."

 

Mark Freeman, President of Libraries Connected, said: “The Summer Reading Challenge is one of the highlights of the year in libraries. Encouraging children to read over the summer holidays helps them to see reading as a fun way to spend their time and now they can get tips on creating a bit of mischief too! Just as exciting is giving young people the opportunity to volunteer and support the challenge in libraries. We are so pleased at Libraries Connected to continue our partnership with The Reading Agency and look forward to welcoming even more children into our libraries this summer.”

 

For more information on the Summer Reading Challenge including how to get involved and resources for schools, go to www.readingagency.org.uk/summerreadingchallenge

Follow the Summer Reading Challenge at www.facebook.com/SummerReadingChallengeUK  and  on Twitter @readingagency #summerreadingchallenge

Sullivan and Brown, 2013

National Literacy Trust, 2011

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