Creepy House: The Summer Reading Challenge in 2013

Dare you enter the Creepy House?

Get ready for a spine-tingling mystery to solve in the Creepy House! From Saturday July 13th you can join the gang of young detectives and help them solve the clues and follow the spooky reading trail. Dare you explore the dusty secret passage and make friends with the bats in the attic?

The Creepy House materials will be illustrated by famous children's illustrator Chris Riddell, illustrator of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Read six books on this white-knuckle reading journey and you will get a fantastic gold style medal and certificate.

2012: Our best year yet

Over 5,000 children took part in Story Lab, last year's challenge, making it our biggest and best year yet. Libraries welcomed children of all ages and hosted over 50 exciting events over the summer holidays. From science crafts to art workshops and storytelling, children enjoyed super activities and had fun reading across the city. 28 lucky children were invited to the Central Library for a special prizegiving event to receive a special goody bag from The Lord Mayor.

What is the Summer Reading Challenge?

The annual summer reading challenge is a library success story. Created and coordinated by the Reading Agency, it focuses on reading for pleasure for children across the UK. It is held every summer holiday and is proven to keep children interested in reading throughout the holidays.

Children can take part in any Bristol library, for free. The challenge normally start in the middle of July and runs until the new school year. Children can visit their local library to enrol and will receive a starter pack to track their reading, stickers as they progress through the challenge, and a medal and certificate at the end of the challenge.

As well as being amazing fun that children can do locally for free (even when it's raining!), the challenge helps prevent a dip in children's reading confidence and ability during the summer holidays. Find more Summer Reading Challenge updates and news as it happens on the Summer Reading Challenge Facebook page.

Here are some quotes from Story Lab participants and their families:

"My son loves books and loves a challenge so he couldn't wait to start." (Mum of four year old at Knowle Library.)

"Story Lab is excellent." (Sam, 10.)

"It gave me a reason to visit the local library with my family." (Mia, 12.)

"We loved this again this year and got really excited every time we picked up our stickers. Had fun reading books we'd not seen before and will make good use of the DVD voucher." (Parent of 8 and 4 year old, Stockwood Library.)

"The Summer Reading Challenge is really fun each year because of the different themes. Me and my sister have done it three years in a row, reading fun books."

"I enjoyed getting my medal." (Lucas, aged 6.)