Summer Reading Challenge is out of this world
Children over the age of four can spend the summer exploring the universe with a special space-related reading challenge.
Published: Monday, 1st July 2019
Swindon’s 14 libraries are hosting the Summer Reading Challenge called Space Chase to encourage children to visit the library and expand their passion for learning, imagining and dreaming.
It is a fun, educational and inclusive initiative delivered nationally by The Reading Agency.
To complete the challenge, children first need to sign up at any library across Swindon, where they will receive a Space Chase collectors’ folder.
After they have initially signed up, children will then need to make three different visits to the library across the summer and take out at least two books on each visit. They can borrow books from the library and can also download books, e-magazines, audio books and e-books which all count towards the Summer Reading Challenge.
On their first visit, they will get the chance to discuss with a volunteer the books they borrowed previously, collect a set of stinky, smelly stickers and receive a wristband.
On their second visit they will come away with a free Snakes and Ladders game and on their third and final visit they will receive a certificate and medal for taking part in the challenge.
Debbie Jackson, Swindon Borough Council’s Community Outreach Librarian, said: “This challenge is a fantastic way of making reading enjoyable for children and for them to make regular visits to their library.”
All children who complete the challenge will be entered into a prize draw in which prizes have been donated by local businesses.
Children’s Patron of Swindon Libraries, author and illustrator Steve Antony has designed a separate competition in which children will be able to create their own planets. Each of the 14 libraries will have a winner who will receive a signed copy of Steve’s new book while the ultimate winner will receive a visit by Steve to their school.
Over 90 volunteers have signed up to help with the Challenge and to get children back into the swing of reading for fun, and the Libraries Outreach Team are busy visiting schools to promote the Challenge.
It starts on Saturday, 13 July and finishes on Sunday, 8 September.