Wokingham Borough Council is over the moon that a supersonic 2,000 medals and certificates have been presented to children across the borough who successfully completed their Space Chase Summer Reading Challenge.
The annual event, which encourages children from across the borough to keep reading over the summer holiday, was open to 4-11 year olds with this year’s theme ‘Space Chase’ taking inspiration from the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.
Children were required to borrow and read any six library books from the library over the summer, teaming up with futuristic family The Rockets for an exciting space mission as they track down books nabbed by a mischievous band of aliens. A phenomenal 113,291 library items were checked out over the summer including both books and ebooks.
“Well done to all of the children who took part in the Space Chase Summer Reading Challenge this summer and a huge thank you to all those volunteers who helped so many children to reach their full potential and complete the challenge,” said Parry Batth, executive member for leisure and environment.
Throughout the summer 83 events were hosted at the borough’s eight libraries including Fred in the Shed, Mad Science Rocket Workshops and a Guide Dog Morning with a staggering 1194 children being entertained by the hardworking library staff and a number of young volunteers.
Out of the 2,014 successful participates of the challenge, a staggering 378 were children who previously had not been members of the library before signing up.
“I am also thrilled that so many children have signed up to become new members of our libraries over the summer and I hope the reading challenge has inspired them enjoy reading more than ever,” continued Cllr Batth.
“I encourage all children across the borough to take a visit to their local libraries to see all the wonderful things they have to offer.”
Children were also invited over the summer by Wokingham libraries to take part in a poetry and short story competition all about Space with winners all receiving a certificate, goody bags and complimentary tickets to the Wokingham Children’s Book Festival.
