Local MP, Justin Tomlinson, is helping to lead a national campaign run by The Reading Agency to encourage all primary school children to take part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge - the UK’s largest reading for pleasure promotion – and help libraries set a Guinness World Record at the same time.
Research shows that reading for pleasure is vital for children’s life chances, and that children who use libraries are twice as likely to be above average readers. It builds confidence and independent reading, while preventing the dip in children’s literacy levels during the long break from school.
The Summer Reading Challenge is a unique partnership between The Reading Agency and public libraries across the UK and got 810,000 children reading in the summer holidays in 2014. The Challenge reaches children and young people of all ages. For pre-schoolers there is a mini-challenge and for young people (aged 13 to 24) there is the opportunity to volunteer and support younger children taking part. Volunteering provides a quality workplace experience for young people in libraries, inspires them to think about future careers and increases their employability as they gain useful life skills and confidence.
Last year over 8,000 young people volunteered. Young volunteers will be helping with the Challenge, supported and funded by the Cabinet Office, as part of Reading Hack, the new young people’s programme from The Reading Agency which is currently in its pilot year and kindly funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Every year there is a new theme and this year the Summer Reading Challenge has teamed up with Guinness World Records - the global authority in record-breaking achievements and publisher of the annual Guinness World Records book – to create Record Breakers. Children sign up at the library and receive a special poster. As they borrow and read library books over the summer, children collect stickers to complete their poster and discover fascinating facts about record breakers as they go.
This year, there is a World Record attempt at Swindon Central Library on Saturday 11th July between 10am & 1pm where people of all ages can learn more about Record Breakers, pledge their support for the campaign and loan their first books for summer.
Justin Tomlinson MP said: “I hope parents, grandparents and carers in North Swindon will take their children to the library over the summer to pledge their support for children’s reading and sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge. It’s free, inclusive and makes reading fun - a vital ingredient in building literacy. Last year 3578 children in Swindon took part in the Challenge. I hope we can increase that number this year, show local libraries what a valuable asset they are to us and our community and help set a world record at the same time. I'm also honoured to be acting as the Guinness World Record official for the Challenge at Swindon”
Sue Wilkinson, CEO of The Reading Agency said: “At The Reading Agency we believe that everything changes when we read. The Summer Reading Challenge, developed and delivered in partnership with librarians across the UK, is a fantastic programme which makes reading fun and improves children’s reading range, motivation and confidence. Taking part can be the highlight of the summer for many families and helps them rediscover their local library, a free, inclusive space full of activities and opportunities. This year, the Record Breakers-themed Challenge is all about achieving your personal best, so we want as many people as possible to join us and pledge to use their local library this summer.”
Follow the Summer Reading Challenge on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SummerReadingChallengeUK
