Written by Ms McMorrow
In a world where we know that reading for pleasure increases self-esteem, empathy, job prospects and life achievement, but that it needs to be true reading for pleasure, with the freedom to choose your own books and time to read when it suits you. The summer holidays seem like a golden opportunity. Now is your time to learn about anything you like, or have a laugh, an adventure, a romance, any kind of experience you can imagine, by picking up a book and putting it down at your leisure!
World Explorer Challenge
Among their other superpowers, books can take you anywhere in the world without the environmental and financial costs of air travel, so with this in mind I’ve created the World Explorer Challenge. How many far-flung countries can you visit this summer, just by reading? If you manage to visit 3 different continents you get 2 house points, and if you somehow make all 7, you’ll get a Head’s Award! If you don’t know where to start, I’ve created a list of great books from each continent, and a little reading passport to fill out when you finish each one.
Don’t let the list constrain you, though – pick any book you fancy, I’d love to hear all about it! Many of these books are available in the school library, or can be found at your nearest public library, and online as e-books or audiobooks via Oxfordshire County Council’s BorrowBox app. If you’re able to visit a local bookshop during the summer, the booksellers might have extra suggestions, as might your local librarians!
For more ideas of great books to read, beyond my World Explorer Challenge list, check out the book reviews on the charity Read for Good’s website:
Or bookshop.org, who have themed lists curated by independent booksellers:
Or this list of 100 Great Non-Fiction Books from lovereading4kids! Scroll down to you find your age range.
Happy reading!
“The library in summer is the most wonderful thing because there you get books on any subject and read them each for only as long as they hold your interest, abandoning any that don’t, halfway or a quarter of the way through if you like, and store up all that knowledge in the happy corners of your mind for your own self and not to show off how much you know or spit it back at your teacher on a test paper.”Polly Horvath, My One Hundred Adventures