On 18 July The Welsh Government's Minister for Culture and Sport, John Griffiths, officially launched the Summer Reading Challenge whilst visiting Bethesda Library in Gwynedd.

John Griffiths said: "Reading can be a great source of enjoyment for children. Instilling a passion for reading early on is crucial to help children develop their skills and our libraries can play a central role in supporting this.

"This project is a fantastic way to keep our children reading over the summer, ensuring their reading skills don't drop off before they return to school and I hope everyone will go along to their local library this summer to take advantage of what's on offer."

Miranda McKearney said: "40% of our young people say they don't enjoy reading. That's extremely serious - because enjoyment of reading is crucial to literacy acquisition, and a vital engine for social mobility. So the Summer Reading Challenge sets out to make reading really fun. It is a crucial intervention from librarians, the people who know how to turn children on to reading. This year's theme is Creepy House - please help every single child join in and benefit from the inspiration it brings."

The Summer Reading Challenge started in thousands of libraries in England and Wales on 13 July having already been launched in Scotland where schools break up sooner. Last year 100% of local authorities in Wales took part in the Challenge and we heard a great story from Ysgol Esgob Morgan, Denbighshire, where every single child completed the Challenge.

Kids takeover day

On 22 July the Summer Reading Challenge continued to be promoted to children in Wales with a 'kids takeover'. At least one library in each authority across Wales put on special activities, letting children run the library, dressing up and generally having a great time. The children photographed were at Caernarfon library where more than 300 other children came to enjoy the activities.

Six Book Challenge

Some Welsh libraries are encouraging family reading and are also running the Six Book Challenge running alongside the Summer Reading Challenge with the change to win a prize - why not challenge the kids and see who can read the most?

Get involved

Children can sign up to the Summer Reading Challenge at their local library. They can log on to the Summer Reading Challenge website to chat, take part in competitions and find new books using the Booksorter.

Parents, carers and grandparents can keep up to date with news from the Summer Reading Challenge on our facebook page.

This year we're running a donations campaign to help bring the Summer Reading Challenge to more disadvantaged children. It only costs £3 for three disadvantaged children to take part in the Challenge for free. Please donate £3 to our campaign by texting READ06 £3 to 70070 or by visiting justgiving.com/SummerReadingChallenge.

Visit librarywales.org to find out more about the many exciting reading schemes public libraries in Wales run.