Julian Knight MP is supporting a new nationwide campaign to encourage more primary school children to take part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, which launches across England and Wales on July 13.
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. It is a unique partnership between The Reading Agency and public libraries across the UK.
Last year around 700,000 children took part borrowing, reading and talking about their favourite books. 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.
This year's theme for the Summer Reading Challenge is Space Chase, inspired by the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.
To take part in Space Chase, all children need to do is to head to their local library. There they will be given a special mission folder to keep track of the six library books they'll be reading over the summer as part of the Challenge. There are also lots of collectible incentives to help motivate them in their reading mission!
Commenting on the news, Julian Knight said:
“I’m delighted to once again offer my full support to the Summer Reading Challenge. I hope parents, grandparents and carers in Solihull will take their children to the library over the summer to sign up. It’s free, inclusive and, most importantly, makes reading fun. Last year 3708 children in Solihull 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.”
