Libraries Summer Reading Challenge

Libraries invite children to join Silly Squad for Summer Reading Challenge

Children in Stoke-on-Trent are being encouraged to ‘get silly’ this summer during a reading challenge which aims to increase their love of books.

The Silly Squad Summer Reading Challenge 2020, produced by The Reading Agency, asks four to 11-year-olds to read any six books - or more - over the school holidays.

Stoke-on-Trent Libraries is joining in the annual project and this year’s theme will be a celebration of funny books, happiness and laughter.

Children who take part in the challenge online – at sillysquad.org.uk – will find out more about the Silly Squad characters and their amazing house, as well as a mysterious villain who wants to spoil the fun. Youngsters can then unlock digital content, activities and videos as rewards for their reading.

During the school holidays, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Summer Reading Challenge in Stoke-on-Trent will be entirely digital and there will be no physical materials and rewards available in the city’s libraries.

Instead, children can sign up online with their parent or guardian and then - for the time being - borrow books using the following methods:

• E-books and e-audiobooks are available to download and borrow for free at www.stoke.gov.uk/libraries and they both count towards the challenge. Customers can sign up for provisional membership online to access all of the service’s e-books, e-audiobooks and e-magazines. Library users with a standard membership card number (28080xxxxxxxxx) can also access a full suite of online services.
• Click, Call and Collect from Longton and Tunstall libraries. Customers can browse the library catalogue online via www.stoke.gov.uk/libraries to order specific titles. Alternatively, contact Longton or Tunstall library by phone or email, tell staff the age of your child and the type of books they enjoy, and the team will put a selection of books together for them – contact longton.library@stoke.gov.uk or call 01782 238424, or tunstall.library@stoke.gov.uk or call 01782 238471. For more information on Click, Call and Collect, including frequently asked questions, please click here.

There will be a host of other local Summer Reading Challenge activities available at librariesonline.stoke.gov.uk and on @sotlibraries on Twitter and /stokeontrentlibraries on Facebook from now until September 12. 

Stoke-on-Trent library services began to return from the lockdown after the Longton and Tunstall sites started the Click, Call and Collect service from Monday, July 6.

This is part of plans for a careful, phased reopening of all six Stoke-on-Trent libraries. The city council will provide more details on plans for the further reopening of libraries shortly.

While some libraries are temporarily closed, there is also a huge range of online resources available at stoke.gov.uk/libraries and the service is also running a number of general activities and challenges on social media.