In total, 1,828 children read six books and were entered into a draw to win prizes donated by Tonbridge’s Lions Club and local businesses.
The Summer Reading Challenge is a national campaign run by the Reading Agency, a charity which encourages people to read in order to develop empathy and build relationships with fellow readers.
It is held every year during the summer holidays and this year’s competition was based upon the Beano cartoon strip with Dennis the Menace and his pet dog Gnasher.
Entrants received a map of Beanotown, and for each of the six books they read they collected stickers to put on the map.
Once they had collected all of them, they could locate the treasure and win a prize.
One parent described the challenge as ‘a great idea – giving them goals to achieve, so therefore a focus.
They added: “It also gets the family into the library so they can encourage other family members to choose a book or two.”
Another said: “Ayukt really enjoyed the challenge and has developed good reading skills over this summer. He now ensures that he reads at least one book every day.”
