Rosie Jones, Radzi Chinyanganya, Beth Tweddle MBE, Dr Alex George, Ellie Robinson MBE and Sam Squiers are amongst the stellar line up of Summer Reading Challenge Champions for 2023!

Books by Julia Donaldson, Joe Wicks and Viv French, Oti Mabuse, Bear Grylls, Phil Earle, Clare Balding and Joseph Coelho have been selected for the ‘Ready, Set, Read!’ Summer Reading Challenge book collection focused on games, sport and play.
We are Family UK have been working with The Reading Agency and children’s charity the Youth Sport Trust who have teamed up with an impressive line-up of Champions for the Summer Reading Challenge 2023 which this year takes a sporting theme. The Champions include: Comedian and children’s author Rosie Jones; TV presenter and author Radzi Chinyanganya; Gold-medal winning Olympian gymnast Beth Tweddle MBE; A&E doctor and TV personality Dr Alex George; Paralympic swimmer Ellie Robinson MBE and sports journalist Sam Squiers.

Now in its 24th year, over the summer holidays from June to September, children across the UK have been encouraged to get reading by taking part in the free Summer Reading Challenge.
Statistics from 2014 show that one in five children in England cannot read well by the age of 11 and that reading for pleasure is a more powerful factor in life achievement than socioeconomic background.
With an exciting theme around games, sports and play the partnership between The Reading Agency and the Youth Sport Trust aims to keep children’s minds and bodies active over the summer break, empowering young people to forge new connections with others and unleash the power of play, sport and physical activity through reading. They will join a superstar team of characters and their marvellous mascots as they navigate a fictional summer obstacle course brought to life with illustrations by children’s writer and illustrator Loretta Schauer. They will be rewarded for their reading with free incentives including stickers.
The list of books selected for the official Challenge booklist includes numerous and varied options from picture books and early readers to middle grade titles by leading authors and illustrators, including: Joseph Coelho, Radzi Chinyanganya, Julia Donaldson, Joe Wicks and Viv French, Sam Squiers, Oti Mabuse, Bear Grylls, David Baddiel, Clare Balding and Rosie Jones amongst many others.

The Summer Reading Challenge shines a light on the power of public libraries as a hub for local communities and will bring together the benefits of sport, play and creativity. This year, the Challenge officially began in Scotland on 24 June and England and Wales on 8 July.
Through the partnership, the Youth Sport Trust has developed fun family activity cards, which alongside the official 2023 Summer Reading Challenge book collection, aim to keep young people’s imaginations and bodies moving over the school holidays. They are also piloting active equipment packs in five libraries across the UK. These packs will be available for families to borrow alongside books for their Challenge. The equipment packs will include hard copies of the activity cards and basic sports equipment to support families to be active, irrespective of space and cost barriers.
We are Family have worked closely with The Reading Agency to create and activate a comms strategy around the initiative to raise awareness and encourage thousands of kids to sign up and get reading! This has involved securing high profile interviews with our Champions on TV, radio and in the press as well as media management for the launch event held at Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur’s impressive training ground facilities in North London and creating a press pack with quotes from our author’s on their love of reading and favourite books.
The Challenge and its sport and play themed book collection shows that imagination can unlock endless possibilities, and libraries are where this starts.

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