Hartlepool children urged to embrace their 'silly side' for summer reading challenge

Aimed at children aged four to 11, the goal is to read six books of their choice over the summer, in return for which they will receive a medal and a certificate.

The theme this year is ‘Silly Squad’ – a celebration of funny books, happiness and laughter featuring artwork by award-winning children’s author and illustrator Laura Ellen Anderson.

As children can’t visit their local library or community hub at the moment due to the coronavirus situation, this year’s challenge is all happening online.

Hartlepool Libraries have lots of bestselling children’s eBooks and eAudiobooks, and youngsters can browse and download titles by their favourite authors using the BorrowBox library app for free.

Councillor Sue Little, chair of Hartlepool Borough Council’s Adult and Community Based Services Committee, said the challenge has a key role to play in helping young people over the summer.

She said: “The summer reading challenge is one of the most popular events in our calendar – last year over 1,300 young people and families took part.

“The challenge has always played a key role in helping boost children’s reading over the summer months, and that’s even more important this year with the impact which the coronavirus has had on youngsters’ normal activities.

“Although children can’t physically visit our libraries and community hubs at the moment, they can still have just as much fun with the reading challenge thanks to all the great books and other resources which they can download from us online – all for free.”

To take part in the Hartlepool Summer Reading Challenge and to download the BorrowBox app, parents need to visit https://online.hartlepool.gov.uk/service/summer_reading_challenge___sign_up to register their child.

Council chiefs also noted there will be accompanying activities on both the ‘Hartlepool Community Hubs’ and the national ‘Summer Reading Challenge’ Facebook pages.

This will include video readings by guest celebrities and authors, games, quizzes and downloadable activities.

In 2019 the challenge was held at libraries across Hartlepool, with a variety of activities on offer to support children, and in total 1,329 families and young people got involved, reading 9,898 books.

Gemma Ptak, council assistant director for preventative and community based services, previously praised last year’s event and noted they had also seen adults get involved with their children.

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