03 Jul 2024
Over 20,000 Herts children to get creative for this year’s Summer Reading Challenge
This summer, children can visit their local Hertfordshire Library, run and funded by Hertfordshire County Council, to join the Marvellous Makers Summer Reading Challenge, firing up their imaginations through the power of reading and creative expression.
In partnership with The Reading Agency and Create, a leading arts charity, this year's Challenge celebrates children's creativity and storytelling abilities. Children will be encouraged to explore new books and stories while taking part in free activities, from poetry and music to arts and crafts and more.
The Challenge will be running in all Hertfordshire Libraries from Saturday 6 July to Saturday 7 September. The perfect free activity for the summer break, children are encouraged to read six library books and collect stickers. Those who finish the Challenge will be rewarded with a medal and certificate and be entered into a prize draw to win tickets to an interactive poetry workshop with award-winning poet, Joshua Seigal.
Visit www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/summerreadingchallenge to discover more about the Challenge and learn more about some Marvellous Makes to do at home. Some libraries will have pop up Maker Stations happening during the summer holidays, with simple, fun and free activities that are sure to unleash children’s creativity.
Michele Murphy, Head of Hertfordshire County Council’s libraries service, said:
“The Summer Reading Challenge is always a really exciting time for children to enjoy our libraries. It’s lovely to see so many young readers, new and old delve into the wonderful world of books and discover so many new stories, characters, and facts. Last year, nearly 20,000 children across Hertfordshire joined in with the Challenge and we are hoping this year we will have even more.“This year’s theme reminds us how the creative arts can help to enhance everyone’s wellbeing, and providing local, and free opportunities to experience reading, art and culture is part of Hertfordshire County Council’s ambition to give every child, no matter their background or experience, the best possible start in life.”
Notes to editors
Media are invited to attend a VIP event at Borehamwood library on Saturday 6th July – please register your interest with the press office if you’d like to attend.
About The Summer Reading Challenge:
The Summer Reading Challenge has been running since 1999 and helps to prevent the summer reading ‘dip’ that many young people experience during their summer holidays while schools are closed. With delivery through public libraries, the Summer Reading Challenge is accessible to all and provides a fun, free activity for children. In 2023, the Summer Reading Challenge reached 685,821 children and families across the UK, with 635,115 children taking part through their local library service. The Challenge also drove 133,697 new children’s library memberships which is 42% higher than the 2019 pre-pandemic total.
About The Reading Agency
The Reading Agency is a UK charity with a mission to empower people of all ages to read. Evidence shows that reading improves health and wellbeing, life chances and social connections. The Reading Agency champions access to the proven power of reading by providing activities for all ages. Working with public libraries, prisons, hospitals and other community settings, we reach over two million people a year. But with a UK population of over 67 million that's not nearly enough. We want to get more people fired up about reading because everything changes when you read.
About Create
Create is a multi-award-winning charity empowering lives, reducing isolation and enhancing wellbeing through the creative arts. Since it was established in 2003, the charity has been guided by the knowledge that people need to create. A national charity that champions local priorities, Create partners with local community organisations to run high-quality creative projects for their service users. Spanning 16 different artforms, these projects are led by professional artists who deliver visual arts to filmmaking, jewellery-making to music, and most recently, circus arts!
createarts.org.uk | @createcharity
About Joshua Seigal
Joshua Seigal is a highly acclaimed, award-winning professional poet and performer who uses poetry to develop literacy skills and inspire confidence and creativity in communication. Winner of the Laugh Out Loud Award (2020, 2023) and The People’s Book Prize (2022), Joshua has had books published by Bloomsbury and Harper Collins.
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