The Summer Reading Challenge, presented by The Reading Agency and funded by Arts Council England, encourages children aged 4 to 11 to set themselves a reading challenge to help prevent the summer reading ‘dip’.

Each year the Challenge, delivered with the support of public libraries, motivates over 700,000 children to keep reading to build their skills and confidence.

This year, Silly Squad, the Summer Reading Challenge 2020, will celebrate funny books, happiness and laughter. Children taking part in the Challenge will join the Silly Squad, an adventurous team of animals who love to have a laugh and get stuck in to all different kinds of funny books!

The 2020 Challenge will feature bespoke artwork from award-winning children’s author and illustrator Laura Ellen Anderson (Amelia Fang; Evil Emperor Penguin; I Don’t Want Curly Hair).

With the disruption caused by COVID-19 and the impact of social distancing on schools and public libraries, the 2020 Challenge will launch as a digital activity to keep children reading over the summer and support parents and carers with children already at home. The Challenge will run from June to September, launching with a week of activity from Monday 1 June and culminating in an official launch day of curated events on Friday 5 June 2020.

The digital Challenge will be free to access, featuring games, quizzes and digital and downloadable activities to incentivise and encourage children and their families to take part in treading related activities at home. Although library buildings are closed, libraries will also continue to deliver the Challenge through virtual services and e-lending platforms.

With school life disrupted and many children missing the company of their friends, this year’s fun-filled Summer Reading Challenge will be all the more vital as a way of helping parents and carers find fun, family-friendly activities, maintain literacy levels and create a safe space for children to connect with their peers.

Why is reading for pleasure important?

• Currently, 1 in 5 children in England cannot read well by the age of 11. We know that reading for fun improves literacy.
• Reading for pleasure is more important to children’s academic success than their parents’ level of education or socio-economic status.
• Embedding a love of reading in children can help their wellbeing later in life. 19% of adult readers say that reading stops them feeling lonely.
• Studies have found that those who read for pleasure have higher levels of empathy, greater self-esteem and are better able to cope with difficult situations.