Joining the Library & The Children’s Summer Reading Challenge

Ever since school broke up for the summer, Bunny has been excited about joining the Library. Unfortunately, as we were moving house for most of the summer, it got delayed until recently. Her excitement was mostly fuelled by her school telling her about the summer reading challenge.

Children are encouraged to join their local library and sign up to read six books over the summer, for which they earn little rewards (bookmarks, smelly stickers, medal & certificate etc). The summer reading challenge actually finishes the first Saturday in September and we only started it in August, so we needed to get a move on. I honestly didn’t realise how time has flown – to me, the summer holidays have only just started, because we haven’t had time to do anything fun yet and we have had to postpone our much-needed summer holiday to Italy. 

The anticipation of joining the library grew when our house move meant we were in walking distance of one! However to join, we had to fill in an online form and then visit a county library with ID, as opposed to the nearest one. 

So last week, we went out and joined the Library, so that both Bunny and I, had a library card each. Now I’m not sure the purpose of me having one, because I very rarely have time to read, but Bunny was jumping for joy. She chose two books from the Rainbow Magic series by Daisy Meadows (which are all about fairies) and we learnt how to use the self-service machine to take the books out on loan.

After £1 of pic and mix, a sneaky visit to H&M and a KFC with Daddy on his lunch break, we went home to read. I read my emails, the twins read the backs of their eyelids and Bunny made a start on her books. Less than an hour later, she had read the first one from cover to cover and proceeded to tell me all about it. Honestly I think I could have read the book quicker than she explained it, but if there were an Olympic medal for talking, nobody would beat my daughter.  It was so nice to see her sit quietly for a bit, as she runs on overdrive 24/7. 

After the first book, she did some looming for the Loom To The Moon appeal for brave little Skye Hall and after a good few metres of that, she sat and read the whole of the second book, cover to cover. She certainly has ambition and wants to earn that summer reading challenge medal, but the best part of that day, was that although most of our activities were simple and free… Bunny claimed it was the best day of her life.

Every day at the moment is either the best day of her life or the worst day of her life. I believe it’s the year of the drama queen. However, it’s a great indicator of her mood and what’s better than seeing your children happy? Especially when you’ve had a, quite frankly, SHIT summer!

Just 5 days later, Bunny completed the Summer reading challenge and got her medal and certificate. Proud Mummy and proud daughter.

You can join Gloucestershire Libraries here.