Summer Reading Challenge

It first began in 1999 with the intention of encouraging primary school children to read books during the summer holidays[broken anchor].

The success of this initiative was supported by a national PR campaign and the creation of professional materials to ensure consistency across libraries.

[2] In 2006, the Summer Reading Challenge Impact Research Report was published by an agency called Product Perceptions.

The Summer Reading Challenge is also run outside of the UK, in Ireland and internationally through the British Council’s teaching and learning services.

For young people (aged 13 to 24), there is the opportunity to volunteer in libraries during the Summer Reading Challenge each year to support younger children taking part.

The London Borough of Croydon ran the Book Trail for many years, which was enjoyed by British rapper Stormzy in his childhood, who in 2016 remembered it as “You read a book, write a detailed review as proof you’ve read it and they give you a badge [...].

[10] Similar initiatives run internationally, in the USA, services design these locally and are known as Summer Reading Programs.