Warwickshire Libraries recently welcomed children and families to the Summer Reading Challenge Medal Celebration events.
These provided a wonderful opportunity to come together as a community and celebrate children's fantastic reading achievements throughout the summer.
The events recognised the dedication, enthusiasm and imagination shown by young readers who completed the challenge, with medals presented to mark their success. It was inspiring to see so many families joining in the celebrations and sharing the joy of reading.
Over 2,900 children and young people took part in the challenge throughout Warwickshire. The music-themed challenge from The Reading Agency encouraged children to discover the joy of reading through rhythm, creativity and storytelling. As part of the National Year of Reading, families were encouraged to make reading a key part of their summer.
Children signed up at any Warwickshire County Council-managed library and took part by reading books, collecting rewards and joining a packed programme of free activities. With a musical theme to this year’s activity, the offer included interactive workshops with Warwickshire Music, inclusive dance sessions led by Anjali Dance Company, electronic music-making experiences through ‘Build the Beat’ workshops, and weekly Summer Reading Challenge Clubs.
Robin Price author of Spartapuss joined for a unique musical extravaganza in which he performed (some of) the Twelve Labours of Hercules through the power of beatboxing, live looping and his own rap poetry.
The Spartapuss adventures are set in an ancient Rome ruled by cats. Robin also co-wrote the songs for the stage musicals The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom.
Cllr Mike Bannister, Warwickshire County Council’s portfolio holder for Resources and Internal Affairs, attended the ceremony at Nuneaton Library giving medals and meeting young people who had participated. He said:
"I would like to thank all the participants at the event. I was particularly interested in the fantastic rap performance of Robin Price, which was also really enjoyed by the children and their parents with some terrific audience participation.
“I also want to extend a huge congratulations to everyone who took part. The Summer Reading Challenge continues to inspire a lifelong love of books, helping children build confidence, discover new stories and enjoy reading for pleasure. And it keeps the momentum of learning going over summer so children hit the ground running at the start the new school year.
“The challenge is so important though because it offers so many different things, different ways to get children along to libraries and read books and learn. We know that will have a positive impact on their education and potentially employment opportunities so we are always delighted to see so many youngsters getting involved.”
Further details on events at local libraries can be found here