David supports the Macclesfield campaign for every child to join a local library and share a love of reading.
Local MP, David Rutley, is supporting a campaign run by charity The Reading Agency to encourage all primary school children to join their local library and take part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge - the UK’s largest reading for pleasure promotion for primary school children.
Research shows the Summer Reading Challenge increases children’s reading range and their enjoyment of reading. It builds confidence and independent reading, while preventing the dip in children’s literacy levels during the long break from school.
A partnership between The Reading Agency and public libraries across the UK, the Summer Reading Challenge got a record 810,000 children reading in the summer holidays in 2013. With the support of local MPs, libraries, schools and a host of well-known children’s authors including Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Morpurgo, even more children aged 4-11 will be encouraged to join the library and complete the challenge this year.
Children will also be encouraged to share their love of reading by recommending a book to friends, family and carers with a campaign called ‘pass-it-on’ this year. The campaign is intended to inspire them to share their reading choices. It is endorsed by the new National Curriculum, which suggests that pupils should be "recommending books that they have read to their peers, giving reasons for their choices.”
Each year the Challenge uses a new theme to inject fun and creativity into reading. The 2014 theme is “Mythical Maze”, illustrated by award winning Sarah McIntrye. Children sign up at the library and receive a mythical maze poster. As they borrow and read library books over the summer, children collect stickers of mythical creatures to complete their poster and discover facts about the creatures as they go. It’s a highlight of the holidays for thousands of children and families.
Children can go on the website summerreadingchallenge.org.uk to create a profile, talk about books, and get help on what to read next, via the digital Book Sorter which already offers over 300,000 peer to peer children’s book recommendations in child-friendly categories.
The Summer Reading Challenge reaches children and young people of all ages. For pre-schoolers there is a mini-challenge and for young people (aged 13 to 24) there is the opportunity to volunteer and support younger children taking part. Volunteering provides a quality workplace experience for young people in libraries, inspires them to think about future careers and increases their employability as they gain useful life skills and confidence. This year it is expected around 8,000 young people will volunteer.
David said: “I hope parents, grandparents and carers in Macclesfield will take their children to the library to sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge. It’s free, inclusive and makes reading fun - a vital ingredient in building literacy. Last year 5,774 children in Cheshire East took part in the Challenge. I hope we can increase that number this year and show local libraries what a valuable asset they are to us and our community.”
He continued, “Macclesfield Library is holding a number of events this summer for children and I would encourage everyone to get involved.”
Follow the Summer Reading Challenge on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SummerReadingChallengeUK