Youngsters across the county are invited to become acquainted with Wild World Heroes as the annual Summer Reading Challenge gets under way in Kent libraries.

This year’s theme is a celebration of nature and action for the environment and is bring run in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund.

The challenge runs from Saturday (10 July) until 11 September with children meeting the Wild World Heroes – Carys, Marcus, Callum, Willow, Faiza, David and their trusted animal companions from Wilderville – who are all on a mission to take action and save their natural world.

Children can help the Wild World Heroes by signing up to the Summer Reading Challenge and reading six library books over the summer period.  It can be any type of reading material including stories, information books, audiobooks, eBooks, e-audiobooks, e-magazines and more.

Activity packs, exciting online and physical events plus lots of additional books have been provided from KCC’s Reconnect programme, aimed at giving children and young people a year of fun activities and opportunities to help them to reconnect with their pre-COVID-19 lives.

When they have read their six books and completed the Summer Reading Challenge, they will receive a medal and certificate (while stocks last). And it is all for free.

More than 19,000 children took part in ‘Space Chase’ which was the theme for The Summer Reading Challenge in 2019 which was a record for Kent.

Mike Hill, KCC’s Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, said: “After the difficult year with the pandemic and its impact on children and their families, the Summer Reading Challenge 2021 is more important than ever in supporting children with their learning, reading skills and so much more.

“This year the challenge is receiving a boost from the council’s £10million Reconnect programme whose aim is to help young people reconnect with aspects of their lives that have been disrupted by the pandemic.

“Wild World Heroes celebrates adventure, friendship, reading and fun while helping children to discover the natural world and its importance.

“Children have the whole summer to tackle the challenge – it does not finish until 11 September and we would like as many children as possible to take part.”

Youngsters can choose to sign up and participate in the Summer Reading Challenge either by visiting a Kent Library to claim their joining pack, or by visiting wildworldheroes.org.uk to take part online.  Visit kent.gov.uk/libs to find an up-to-date list of our open libraries and information about when others will be opening.

The Summer Reading Challenge is presented by The Reading Agency, delivered in partnership with libraries.

Find out more at your local library, on our website www.kent.gov.uk/libs or follow Kent Libraries its social media pages – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.