Youngsters across Derbyshire who love reading are being encouraged to sign up to this year’s Summer Reading Challenge which is themed Wild World Heroes.
All Derbyshire libraries are taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages children aged 4 to 11 to carry on reading and maintain their literacy skills throughout the school summer holidays.
In 2019 more than 7,700 Derbyshire children took part and 135 events were held across the county.
This year’s challenge, run by The Reading Agency, introduces Wild World Heroes who are on a mission to make the town where they live, Wilderville, a cleaner and greener place for the people and animals who live there.
To join the challenge, which runs until Saturday 11 September 2021, children can sign up for free at their local Derbyshire library and they will receive a poster map of Wilderville and stickers. They then choose six books of any kind to read or share. This can include ebooks and eaudio books. Once they have read the books they can return to the library to collect their medal and certificate.
Themed online activities are taking place, via Facebook and Twitter, every week over the summer:
- Monday – storytime
- Tuesday – children’s book reviews
- Wednesday – rhymetime
- Thursday – games/quizzes
- Friday – book share
- Saturday – craft activity
- Sunday – debut authors.
The Reading Agency has teamed up with The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) this year to emphasise the nature-themed challenge which will encourage youngsters to stand up for the planet and care for the environment.
Derbyshire County Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Leadership, Culture, Tourism and Climate Change Councillor Barry Lewis said:
“Our libraries take part in the Summer Reading Challenge every year and thousands of children sign up.
“It’s a great way to keep children reading over the long summer holidays and ensure they maintain their reading skills, and it encourages them to read independently and for pleasure.
“Due to the disruption caused to children and their education by Covid-19, initiatives like the Summer Reading Challenge are more important than ever and taking part will have huge benefits for youngsters’ development and educational achievement.”
