What inspires 750,000 children in the UK to read over 3 million books during the summer holidays for pleasure?

The Summer Reading Challenge is one of the largest creative reading opportunities available to children in the UK. It introduces children to one of the best free resources for their minds that they have on their doorsteps – the local library – and focuses on developing skills that are vital for their life chances and life skills – reading and a love of reading.

Alan Yentob, Creative Director of the BBC, speaking at the Summer Reading Challenge Conference 2009: Celebrating 10 Years and Looking Ahead

The Summer Reading Challenge is great fun for everyone. It's free, it's simple: read six books over the summer holidays, chosen from the library. There are stickers and incentives to collect along the way to keep children motivated, and at the end they have a real sense of achievement, marked by libraries and schools issuing Summer Reading Challenge certificates and medals, hosting celebration events in libraries, schools, theatres and other community venues.

The scheme benefits children in several ways. Not only are they rewarded for completing the Challenge, they are encouraged to swap ideas and recommendations. The idea is that they form closer relationships with their libraries, hopefully becoming ‘readers for life’. ‘The children have the freedom to choose their own books,’ says The Reading Agency's Lynne Taylor. ‘It gives them a real sense of personal achievement that they associate with the library.’

We also know that this simple idea makes a real difference to children's reading habits. Research has shown that children who take part are more enthusiastic about reading and that taking part can help prevent the ‘summer holiday reading dip’, when they lose their reading momentum and motivation (Kennedy and Bearne, 2010).

This chapter will look at how the Summer Reading Challenge works. We will trace its beginning, expansion and development over the last 13 years – working with schools and other partners, growing into a catalyst for volunteering in libraries and now running in countries overseas. We will examine the effects this has had on the provision of resources and opportunities for library staff, and the difference it makes to children and young people.