Children’s summer reading challenge launched – step into the Story Garden

Celebrate stories, adventure, and the great outdoors with East Lothian libraries this summer through the 2025 Summer Reading Challenge – Story Garden, from now until Saturday 23 August.

The Challenge launched on Friday 20 June at Musselburgh Library with local author Tom Nicoll, who was joined by members of the Musselburgh Library Junior Gardening Club and lots of families keen to sign up. 

Read for fun

The Reading Agency’s annual Summer Reading Challenge encourages children aged between 4 and 11 to read for fun and happens in libraries across the country every summer. 

This summer, your local East Lothian library invites you to step into the magical world of Story Garden, the 2025 Summer Reading Challenge theme. With stunning artwork by illustrator Dapo Adeola, children will uncover stories that celebrate the great outdoors and the power of imagination. 

With incentives to collect and plenty of brilliant books to enjoy, the Summer Reading Challenge is the perfect summer activity to build young readers’ skills and confidence during the summer break and keep them on track to grow into lifelong readers.

Sign up now!

Children can visit any East Lothian library to sign up for the Challenge and start by taking their first book. The goal is to read any six library books over the summer, collecting stickers along the way and every finisher receives a certificate and is entered into a prize draw. 

We have lots of free and fun events in libraries over the summer holidays to help celebrate nature, the outdoors, and – of course – books! Visit our website for more information or contact your local library.

Update

We have just received a £2500 grant, plus additional resources, from the Julia Rausing Trust via The Reading Agency so we will be working with community groups and lunch clubs to extend the Challenge, supporting children who would not generally access a library. They will be encouraged to complete the Challenge through reading together, curating exciting collections of books, and engaging them in activities to make the Challenge more flexible and achievable. This will build on the existing activities and partnerships of our library service, focusing our outreach more on literacy and reading for pleasure for those who need it most.