The Big Friendly Read 2016

Hey guys! Maymunah here! ?

I hope you’re all looking forward to a long summer holidays which hopefully should be full of nice weather and plenty of fun. Make sure you all chill and take some time out, I know for me especially next school year’s going to be pretty hectic!

But with a long holiday comes the daunting task of keeping kids entertained without them feeling as though they have a lot of work to do. Stressy.

Never fear, because the Reading Challenge is perfect for having an activity throughout the whole six weeks whilst ensuring that the children’s brain cells don’t melt away without the school work they were doing previously.

The Summer Reading Challenge lasts for about 8 weeks this year. The objective is to read six or more books over this period from your local library.

As always, this year has a theme and what’s better than the well-loved children’s author Roald Dahl as part of celebrating 100 years since he was born? Granted, I’m a huge fan of his, but then again, who in my generation isn’t? It’s called the Big Friendly Read (after the Big Friendly Giant) and you can see their official site at www.summerreadingchallenge.org.uk.

My sister works as a volunteer in the library to help children pick out books and sign up for the challenge. She tells me that in the library there are posters hung up for children to activate on their iPads or iPhones with the official summer reading challenge app to make the pictures come to life and hear some cool facts. It’s pretty interesting how they’ve combined technology with the traditional books because I think it’ll really help enticing more kids to join in if they don’t think it’s all “old fashioned.”

The summer reading challenge website describes the challenge as:

“The Summer Reading Challenge takes place every year during the summer holidays. You can sign up at your local library, then read six library books of your choice to complete the Challenge. There are exclusive rewards to collect along the way, and it’s FREE to take part!

The Summer Reading Challenge website helps you keep track of your reading all year round: find new books to read, take part in competitions and play games.”

I did the challenge as a kid, and boy, was it a lot of fun! I’d definitely recommend it to any child so it’s worth looking into if you’re at home.

Are you going anywhere this holiday? Will you be participating in the challenge? Leave a comment below!

 

About the Author

Maymunah Azad is a 15 year old author living in Derbyshire. She enjoys reading, writing and being a general geek!
You can find more about her at www.daimbycity.com