MORE than 2,500 of the county’s young bookworms have signed up for this year’s Summer Reading Challenge with their local library.

This summer, children aged four to 11 can visit their library to get involved in a science and innovation-themed Summer Reading Challenge, presented by The Reading Agency in partnership with the Science Museum Group.

Councillor Marcus Hart, cabinet member for communities, said: “It is really heartening to see that so many of the county’s young readers have signed up for the Summer Reading Challenge.

“As a parent myself, I can really appreciate the need for children to read for pleasure over the summer holidays, building reading skills and confidence and helping to prevent the ‘dip’ in reading skills while they are out of school.

“For the first time in two years, libraries are able to fully welcome children and families into libraries to choose their books and talk face-to-face with library staff.”