Children across North Yorkshire are being encouraged to explore the great outdoors in this year’s nature-themed Summer Reading Challenge.
Launching on Saturday, 12 July, North Yorkshire libraries will welcome children aged four to 11 to read six library books of their choice over the summer holidays, offering stickers and prizes to encourage children to take part.
Once completed, they will receive a medal, and free swim vouchers will be provided by Active North Yorkshire.
A prize draw for vouchers will be on offer for young people who complete the challenge in the former Ryedale and Scarborough areas.
This year’s theme is Story Garden – Adventures in Nature and the Great Outdoors, uncovering magical creatures, vibrant plants, and enchanting landscapes brought to life by award-winning illustrator Dapo Adeola.
Created by The Reading Agency and delivered in partnership with libraries, it encourages children to explore the connection between storytelling and nature.
Executive member for libraries, Cllr Simon Myers, said: “Over the summer, our libraries will once again be a haven for reading. The county is the perfect place for this year’s nature-themed challenge as we will be celebrating its unique landscape.
“This year’s green theme aims to inspire a passion for the outside world, building a confidence in reading and promoting mental wellbeing.
“By taking part in the challenge, it allows parents and carers to support children to read for pleasure throughout the summer holidays.”
To coincide with the challenge, a library card photography competition is being run for children aged seven to 11. Entries need to have a nature-theme, such as plants, insects, animals and landscapes. The winning images will become limited edition library cards.
Book-themed trails are taking place in some of the county’s parks including Aireville Park in Skipton, Spa Gardens in Ripon, Valley Gardens in Harrogate, Selby Park, South Cliff and Peasholm Park in Scarborough.
A reading list has been compiled by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust through the Wild Ingleborough project. Children who read a book from the collection will receive a Wildlife Watch magazine and sticker. Titles include the Twitch series by M. G. Leonard, A Busy Day for Birds by Lucy Cousins and Alice Roberts’ Wolf series.
The Yorkshire Dales National Park is running six outdoor events in July and August in Richmond, Settle, Ingleton, Leyburn, Gargrave and at the Kettlewell Supermobile stop. As part of the River Esk Connect project, the North York Moors National Park will run craft workshops and family nature walks at 15 libraries including Helmsley, Easingwold, Scarborough, Kirkbymoorside, Filey, Malton and Whitby.
North Yorkshire Rotters will also be bringing their smoothie bike to 12 libraries, and North Yorkshire Adult Learning Service will be providing family fun craft events across the county.
The National Literacy Trust’s Yorkshire coast branch will be running events in Scarborough, Eastfield, Whitby and Filey including a joke book factory and an outdoor Pokémon Go nature discovery adventure.
Skipton Town Hall and Harrogate’s Royal Pump Room are hosting Make and Take events in the first week of the holidays which will see children make monstrous bookmarks in preparation for the reading challenge.
See details of more than 250 events across the county, or visit individual library Facebook pages for more information.
Reaching close to 600,000 children nationally in 2024, the challenge helped start more than 100,000 new library memberships and contributed to 13.3 million books being read and logged over the summer.
The challenge ends on Saturday 6 September. Find out more about this year’s Summer Reading Challenge.