Libraries launch reading challenge for young members

This summer, as part of its commitment to developing confident readers, Westmeath County Library Service is inviting children once again to take part in its Summer Reading Challenge.

This year the theme is ‘The Reading Safari’, challenging children to adventure through a world of books.

“It has been proven that children who do not read over the summer holidays can suffer a setback in their reading ability,” a library spokesperson told the Westmeath Examiner this week, adding that encouraging your child to read for pleasure can help increase reading fluidity and reading comprehension, and it can also help to spark the imagination and to develop an enquiring mind.

“Taking part in a Summer Reading Challenge can be a family activity with parents helping to select books, families reading together and talking about the books they’ve read,” the spokesperson said.

The Summer Reading Challenge runs from June 3 to August 30 in all Westmeath libraries. Children are invited to borrow books throughout the summer and record the number of books they have read on their personal Summer Reading Challenge card. Read six books and get a reading reward. Keep reading and enter the special Reading Safari draw to be held in September.

Children who sign up to the Summer Reading Challenge can then visit their local library and borrow a book of activities, read up on a favourite animal or simply curl up in a corner with an exciting story and become one of the “readers on safari”.

Visit westmeathcoco.ie/library for details of all Westmeath Libraries and their opening hours.