Go wild for reading in Islington this summer

Families can head to their local library from Saturday 10 July to sign up to the challenge, check out the reading lists and details of how to take part. Each year the challenge motivates more than 700,000 children across Britain to keep reading, to build their skills and confidence.

This year, organisers The Reading Agency have partnered with the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) to create the Wild World Heroes theme, inspiring children to take action for nature and the environment. Celebrity ambassadors were recently revealed to be the young naturalist, writer and broadcaster Dara McAnulty and the explorer, writer and presenter Steve Backshall.

Islington is taking part in a new pilot to help reach new audiences, targeting communities most in need who haven’t taken part in the challenge before. The timing is particularly important due to the amount of time many children have spent out of school this academic year, due to the pandemic and local lockdowns.

Cllr Una O'Halloran, Executive Member for Community Development, said: “It is wonderful to welcome children and their families back to their local library. Our libraries are an incredible resource for everyone in the borough and I’m so pleased to see them back open and serving the local community.”

Cllr Valerie Bossman-Quarshie, Islington Council’s Reading Champion, added: “It has been such a challenging time for children and their families over the last year and the reading challenge gives them an opportunity to escape in a good book and discover the exciting theme for this year, Wild World Heroes. We are delighted to be part of a new pilot this year which will help us reach more children and foster a love of reading.”

Karen Napier, CEO of The Reading Agency, said: "We're delighted to be announcing further details of this year's Summer Reading Challenge, and to have the support of our wonderful ambassadors, Dara McAnulty and Steve Backshall. We hope that this year, more children than ever will feel inspired and encouraged to sign up to the challenge. After a difficult year for many, we are immensely grateful for the continued and longstanding support of public libraries, and we're looking forward to working closely with them to help get children reading, alongside our brilliant partners and sponsors.”

Islington libraries support the campaign every summer, which usually sees around 1,000 local children complete the challenge by reading six books. The borough’s 10 libraries are all free to join and have free public computers, Wi-Fi and internet access, along with a variety of books, e-books, e-audiobooks, online newspapers, magazines, comics and other resources to borrow and browse. To find your nearest library visit the Islington Council website for locations and opening times at www.islington.gov.uk/libraries-arts-and-heritage/libraries

Notes to editors

About The Reading Agency

The Reading Agency is a national charity that tackles life’s big challenges through the proven power of reading. We work closely with partners to develop and deliver programmes for people of all ages and backgrounds. The Reading Agency is funded by Arts Council England. www.readingagency.org.uk

About The Summer Reading Challenge

The Summer Reading Challenge is run by the Reading Agency for children across the UK and is delivered in partnership with public libraries. It has been running for the past 22 years and aims to foster a lifelong love of reading and tackle the drop off in reading that happens over the school summer holidays. Children are challenged to read as many books as they can over the summer and encouraged to enjoy reading for pleasure. Each year has a different theme – 2020 was ‘Silly Squad’ and 2019 was 'Space Chase’.

https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk

About WWF

WWF (the Worldwide Fund for Nature) is one of the world’s largest independent conservation organisations, active in nearly 100 countries. Our supporters – more than five million of them – are helping us to restore nature and to tackle the main causes of nature’s decline, particularly the food system and climate change. We’re fighting to ensure a world with thriving habitats and species, and to change hearts and minds so it becomes unacceptable to overuse our planet’s resources. WWF. For your world.

For wildlife, for people, for nature.

Find out more about our work, past and present at https://www.wwf.org.uk/     

Covid safety measures in libraries

Islington’s libraries are reopening in stages and are subject to the latest restrictions. For opening hours and full details visit www.islington.gov.uk/libraries-arts-and-heritage/libraries