YOUNGSTERS in Rugby will be encouraged to keep their minds and bodies active during the school holidays by taking part in a Summer Reading Challenge themed around sports and games.
Children aged 4-11 can visit Rugby Library and explore new reading material, develop skills, and discover new interests by getting involved in the challenge, which begins on Saturday (July 8).
Using themed physical activity challenge cards from the Youth Sport Trust and an exciting themed book collection, Rugby’s children can join fun characters, brought to life by children’s author and illustrator Loretta Schauer, to navigate a fictional summer obstacle course and track their reading as they go, rewarded by free incentives including stickers.
Rugby’s MP has given his support to the challenge, which is run by The Reading Agency.
Mark Pawsey said: “The Summer Reading Challenge is a wonderful way of encouraging children, particularly those in primary school, to continue to develop their reading skills during the school holidays.
“As well as the free-to-access and fun learning resources available through our much-loved public libraries, each Summer Reading Challenge is themed around a different set of characters and books. This means that even if you’ve taken part in a previous year, there’s always more great new stories to discover.
“It was great to meet with representatives of The Reading Agency in Parliament and look at many of the books and resources that they will be sending out.
“The Summer Reading Challenge also builds on the great success England has seen in the recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, which assesses the reading skills of young people. The most recent results showed children in England were ranked fourth in the world, which is a great achievement.
“As a parent, I know how important encouraging reading is, particularly when children are out of school. I hope that Rugby Library, like libraries across the country, will be visited by many children over the holidays to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge.”
Visit www.summerreadingchallenge.org.uk for more information.
