The Summer Reading Challenge from The Reading Agency takes place every year during the summer holidays. Children read 6 or more library books of their choice and receive incentives along the way to encourage them.
With exclusive incentives to collect and plenty of brilliant books to enjoy, the challenge is the perfect summer activity to build young readers’ skills and confidence during the long break from school.
This year the Summer Reading Challenge will take place from Saturday 9 July to Saturday 10 September.
For this year’s challenge, The Reading Agency has partnered with the Science Museum Group to create ‘Gadgeteers’, inspiring children to use their curiosity and creativity to discover the science behind the everyday, and celebrate the role of the imagination in both reading and the sciences.
The Gadgeteers are planning an epic summer party! Through reading books and collecting rewards, challenge participants will help the Gadgeteers use their special skills to get everything ready.
The challenge is:
- inclusive of all primary school aged children and all stages of reading development
- free to take part - simply visit your local library during the holidays to sign up, and children will receive fun materials to get them started
Events
There's a range of events for all ages taking place at Bracknell Forest libraries this summer.
Competition
Enter our Summer of Science Scratch competition to be in with a chance to win a code club t-shirt.
Reading lists
Why not try some of these books during the challenge? You can find more books to read on the Summer Reading Challenge reading list.
For younger readers
- Yasmin the Scientist by Saadia Foruqi
- Bears make the best science buddies by Carmen Oliver
- Nano: The spectacular science of the very (very) small by Dr Jess Wade
- Shine, star, shine! By Dom Conlon
- Al’s awesome science: splash down by Jane Clarke
- The lost homework by Richard O’Neil
- I am every good thing by Derrick Barnes
- Once upon a big idea by James Carter
- Curious creatures glowing in the dark by Zoe Armstrong
For older readers
- Ocean plastic problem by Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan
- Wild scientists by Steve Mould
- City of rust by Gemma Fowler
- Into the sideways world by Ross Welford
- Mission shark bytes by Sophie Deen
- Wonderscape by Jennifer Bell
- Escape room by Christopher Edge
- Ant Clancy, games detective by Ruth Morgan
- The ten riddles of Eartha Quicksmith by Loris Owen
- Daydreams and jellybeans by Alex Wharton
- Harley Hitch and the iron forest by Vashti Hardy
- Sabotage on the solar express by MG Leonard
Benefits
Some of the benefits of taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge include:
- encouraging children to read throughout the summer holidays
- developing a lifelong love of reading for pleasure
- encouraging children to read a variety of genres
- encouraging the whole family to use resources in the library
- helps make sure that literacy levels do not drop over the summer
- most importantly - it's fun!
Parents and guardians can find out more on the Summer Reading Challenge website.
Credits
Illustrations by Julian Beresford and © The Reading Agency 2022
