Summer Reading Challenge

The Summer Reading Challenge will be back in Inspire libraries this summer. This year's challenge is Marvellous Makers and we're tapping into our imaginations, telling amazing stories and coming up with lots of fun new creations, as we celebrate the creative arts.

Developed in collaboration with Create, a leading arts charity, the 2024 Summer Reading Challenge will celebrate creativity, imagination and the power of reading.  

The Summer Reading Challenge is produced by The Reading Agency and delivered in partnership with libraries. The challenge, aimed at children aged 4 - 11 years, is to read six or more library books over the summer.  Children earn rewards for every book they read and recieve a medal and certificate if they complete the challenge.

This year children will join the Marvellous Makers who are busy getting creative for a big festival…but the objects they need have mysteriously disappeared. Children will help the Marvellous Makers find the objects they need to complete their creations.  

• Children sign up at the library to start their challenge (anytime from Saturday 6 July), picking up their Marvellous Makers collector poster.
• Borrow books and get reading!  Children choose the books they want to read, recording what they have read along the way.  Library staff and volunteers are on hand to chat to children about books they have read.
• For every book read, children will pick up stickers (some are smelly!) along with other rewards.  They will also help discover the missing objects our Marvellous Makers need to complete their creations.
• Every child who completes the challenge, by reading 6 library books, receives a medal and certificate.  Plus a pack of coloured pencils funded from our friends at arcpartnership.

Children can also take part online for digital rewards.

• Sign up for a website profile direct at summerreadingchallenge.org.uk (children will be asked to privide a parent/carer email address to approve sign up)
• Set a personal reading goal for the summer.
• Record the books read onto an online profile and leave reviews to unlock digital badges and online rewards.
• Children will unlock a certificate to download when they reach their goal.

There is help and guidance available to support signing up to the online challenge from The Reading Agency.

Please note the in-person and online Challenges are separate.  Physical incentives such as the poster, stickers and medals are only avaiable via the library for those taking part in-person.

Children can read any books they like on the Summer Reading Challenge; stories, fact books, poetry, jokes, graphic novels. 

Our children's book recommendations page has inspiration. There are lots of ebooks and audio books that can be borrowed from the library online to help complete the online challenge.

Explore a selection of books inspired by the 2024 Summer Reading Challenge theme on our pintrest board below; celebrating the power of imagination, creativity and reading.

Children who complete the Summer Reading Challenge by reading 6 books will be entered into a free prize draw to win some Crayola goodies (pens, pencils crayons).

The Marvellous Makers free draw has been sponsored by arcpartnership.  Full terms and conditions are available here.

The Summer Reading Challenge is produced by The Reading Agency and delivered in partnership with libraries. The challenge, aimed at children aged 4 - 11 years, is to read six or more library books over the summer,  encouraging them to keep up the reading habit over their long break from school. 

There is a different theme each year.  In 2023, Ready, Set, Read! was developed in collaboration with the Youth Sport Trust and celebrated play and participation, encouraging children to get involved in games and sports in any way that best suited them.  10,135 children in Nottinghamshire took part in our libraries.

Children who take part in the Summer Reading Challenge:

• are more enthusiastic about reading
• maintain their reading level over the holidays
• return to schools keen and ready to learn
• boost their confidence and self-esteem.