Liverpool’s library service is setting young people across the city a summer reading challenge that is out of this world.
Throughout the six-week school summer holiday, the service will be urging children to keep their brains active by picking up a plethora of page-turners from their local library.
The Summer Reading Challenge is an annual national event organised by charity The Reading Agency. Last year, around 700,000 children took part nationally.
The event’s aim is to help children and young people build confidence in their reading skills, which can be directly linked to their achievement levels.
e Wilkinson, who is head of The Reading Agency, said: “At The Reading Agency, we tackle life’s big challenges through the proven power of reading. We know from our research that families and children love taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge and we are proud to have been running it for 20 years. We hope the challenge will inspire all children to use their local library and to read lots of great books throughout the summer and beyond.”
The theme of this year’s challenge is The Space Chase in honour of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.
All children have to do to take part is head down to their nearest library, where they will be given a special mission folder to keep track of the six books they will be reading over the summer as part of the challenge.
In Liverpool, almost 900 children and young people took up the 2018 Summer Reading Challenge and the team is hoping even more will take part this year.
Liverpool’s challenge will be launched in fine style at Central Library on Saturday 20 July.
The library will be hosting a Mission to the Moon event, between 10am and 5pm, which will celebrate 50 years to the day since the ‘one giant leap for mankind’.
Hosted by the Liverpool Astronomical Society, the free event will see a host of activities including memorabilia from the actual Apollo missions, virtual reality experiences and actual moon rock and meteorites. There will also be a series of talks throughout the day all about the Apollo 11 landing.
Liverpool City Council’s Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Culture, Cllr Wendy Simon, said: “Reading for pleasure is one of the easiest yet most rewarding hobbies that anyone could ever take up. Books are lifelong companions that really can give us knowledge, inspiration and endless hours of joy.
“The Reading Challenge is a great way to find the fun in reading and what better way to launch it than with our own celebration of one of the most significant events in our history. Last year we had a fantastic response to our reading challenge and we would like to see even more young people taking part this year. The challenge is free and it could take you all the way to the stars.”
For more information about The Summer Reading Challenge, including how to get involved and resources for schools, visit: www.readingagency.org.uk/summerreadingchallenge
