| The overall aim is to encourage children from 4 to 12 year old to read six books in the summer holidays. It’s not simply a challenge, however, it’s also about children enjoying what they read, discovering more about books, knowing how to find the books they want to read, and sharing “reading time” with parents and carers, library staff and peers.
Children signing up to the scheme at their local library are each given a personal folder, with stickers and collectable incentives to chart their progress and encourage them to complete the challenge - all free of charge.
Those read six books are rewarded with a certificate, usually presented at a special ceremony in their local library or school.
Each year, a theme is chosen for the challenge. This year’s theme is “The Reading Mission”. Children who sign up will receive a colourful Reading Mission pack, featuring two intrepid young special agents and their lovable dog. Designed to look like a metallic special agent attaché case, the folder opens to reveal its top secret content and explain how the mission works. Inside, special agents discover three missions which will test their powers of observation, their ingenuity and their logic with specially-devised activities. But cracking codes and solving puzzles is just one aspect of the dual mission - the agents also sign up to read books, keep track of their reading, write reviews, and spread the word about how good books are by using special “top secret” messages.
In 2005:
600,000 children aged 4-12 took part nationally of whom 2596 were from the SELB area.
300,000 children nationally read at least 6 books. In the SELB the figure was 1566.
94% of UK libraries offered the challenge through 4,000 libraries and mobile libraries.
For further information contact:
John Graham
Young People’s Service Development Manager
Tel: 02837520777
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