The Summer Reading Challenge is always a highlight of our summer. We love the summer holidays but this year will obviously be totally different for everyone. Home learning gives shape to our days at the moment and I’m not quite sure what we’ll do come the summer holidays. I don’t think we’ll be going away anywhere which means 6 long weeks to fill, without the weekly routine of our timetable from school and online classes. Thankfully it looks like we will be able to rely on the Summer Reading Challenge to keep us motivated with our reading!

The 2020 Summer Reading Challenge for kids

Due to the widespread disruption caused by the pandemic (I can’t even bare to write the name of it), the Summer Reading Challenge with its Silly Squad theme will launch earlier than usual and will run from June to September 2020. A whole host of virtual (super silly!) curated events with guest celebrities and authors will take place on Friday 5 June to mark the launch of the new digital Challenge. The website will be free to access, featuring games, quizzes and digital and downloadable activities to encourage children and their families to take part in the Challenge at home. Although library buildings are closed, libraries will also continue to deliver the Challenge through virtual services and e-lending platforms.

How to take part in the 2020 Summer Reading Challenge

In case you haven’t heard of it before, the Summer Reading Challenge (organised by The Reading Agency) encourages children aged 4-11 to read during the long summer holiday. Research shows that children’s reading can ‘dip’ severely during the summer if they do not have regular access to books. With school life disrupted and many children missing the company of their friends, this year’s Summer Reading Challenge will be all the more vital as a way of helping parents and carers find fun, family-friendly activities, maintain literacy levels and create a safe space for children to connect with their peers. You are encouraged to read at least one book a week, and collect exclusive rewards along the way. It’s free to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge, usually you’ll just need to make sure your child has joined their local library to take part.

Each year has a different, fun, theme. 2016 was The Big Friendly Read and 2018 was Mischief Makers. This year’s theme will also offer families a chance to have fun and just “GET SILLY!”, with children being encouraged to read anything that makes them happy – whether it be a comic, joke book, poetry, fiction or non-fiction, in digital or print format, from e-book lending through the public library service or from what they already have at home, with the Summer Reading Challenge official book collection as a guide.

We can’t wait to find out more about this year’s Summer Reading Challenge and take part. Will you be taking part too?