Taking place annually, the challenge encourages children aged 4 to 11 to keep reading during the summer holidays.
The theme this year was all about games and sports. Developed in collaboration with the Youth Sport Trust, the 2023 Summer Reading Challenge celebrated play and participation, encouraging children to engage in games and sports in any way that best suits them.
This year, two prizes donated by MFC Foundation were on offer for Redcar and Cleveland’s children, which will soon be drawn. The prizes on offer are:
- 2 x tickets to a Middlesbrough Football Club 2023/2024 home game; or
- 4 x persons for a Riverside Stadium tour.
Ready, Set, Read! showcased how reading can be active and engaged, and can itself involve teamwork and community. The Challenge is brought to life by the brilliant children’s writer and illustrator, Loretta Schauer.
Children’s reading skills can ‘dip’ during the long summer holidays without regular access to books and encouragement to read for pleasure.
The Summer Reading Challenge helps to tackle this by regularly reaching over 700,000 children each year, motivating them to visit the library and keep reading during the holidays, which, in turn, vitally boosts children’s confidence and maintains their reading skills in preparation for the new school term.