Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson is backing a campaign for every child to join their local library and do the Summer Reading Challenge.

Andrew who has spoken about the importance of libraries in the House of Commons in the past said; “Over the past couple of years we have seen record investments in Pendle’s Libraries, including the £600,000 refurbishment of Colne and £500,000 refurbishment of Brierfield Library.  There are also numerous improvements being made at our smaller libraries, such as self-service readers at Fence Library, which could lead to longer opening hours.”

Mr Stephenson is supporting a campaign run by the Reading Agency to encourage all primary school children to join their local library and take part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge – the UK’s biggest reading promotion for primary school children.

The challenge, which began last week, is for every child aged between four and 11 to read six books of their choice from their local library during the summer holidays.

Andrew added “I hope parents and carers will take their children to their local library this summer and if they aren’t already members sign up and do the Summer Reading Challenge. It’s free and makes reading fun, a vital ingredient in building literacy. Last year 1400 children took part in the challenge. I hope we will beat that this year.”

Andrew is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Libraries Group.