Young bookworms dig into the natural world with Summer Reading Challenge
Young bookworms have been recognised for their enthusiasm in the country's largest summer reading programme.
Article date: 14 October 2025
The Mayor of St Helens, Councillor Seve Gomez-Aspron MBE, along with other councillors presented certificates following the close of the Summer Reading Challenge at the end of September.
The Reading Agency, alongside local libraries, organises the Summer Reading Challenge, an Arts Council-backed initiative.
This programme invites children aged four to 11 to read six books over the summer school break.
1,286 local children got involved in this year's challenge, contributing to a massive total of 24,052 junior section items borrowed from St Helens Libraries during the summer.
The theme for this year was 'Story Garden' with children encouraged to delve into stories of the enchanting, natural world, or discover unbelievable facts about bugs, bees, and superhero plants.
The summer programme helped to encourage 362 children and young people to become junior library members.
To ensure all children had access to the books needed for the challenge, several outreach sessions were held in across St Helens Libraries.
These sessions are part of the council's library strategy, which aims to provide all residents with access to library resources.
Councillor Sue Murphy MBE, Cabinet Member for Localities, Culture and Heritage, hailed this year's Summer Reading Challenge a resounding success, saying:
"The annual Summer Reading Challenge is such a massive occasion on the library service's calendar which requires a lot of hard work and organising, so I'd like to thank everyone involved for their efforts, not least our wonderful library staff for facilitating this year's challenge and organising all the presentation ceremonies to celebrate the achievements of children across the borough.
"It's great to see such a positive response, with more than a thousand children taking part and thousands more books borrowed during the challenge - and of course more members welcomed to our service to discover the joys and delights of what our library service has to offer."
Through initiatives like this, the council aims to ensure young people across the borough have the opportunity to continue reading, both in libraries and through the outreach programme.
For more information on St Helens Borough Council's Library Service, including a packed programme of sessions communities across the borough, visit the council's website.