Hull North MP backs the Big Wild Read

Hull North MP Diana Johnson is backing the Big Wild Read, a campaign to get children into libraries and keep them reading through their long summer holidays.

The campaign organised by the Reading Agency aims to encourage children to visit their local libraries during the summer holiday period so they do not lose any reading skills during the break from school teaching. To support this initiative Diana is donating books, courtesy of The Reading Agency's publishing partners, to a local library.

Diana Johnson MP said: "I fully support this campaign to get children reading and using local libraries in Hull. It's a pleasure to donate some books to support the important work of our local libraries in helping children to get the reading habit early.

"While children have a great time reading for fun, they are also reinforcing the educational progress in reading that schools want to see. Holidays are a good time to enjoy reading for all of us, and I urge everyone to go along to one of our local libraries to pick up a book this summer."

Diana recently joined more than 100 Parliamentary colleagues at an event launching the Big Wild Read campaign held in the House of Commons by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Libraries.

Every year, more children take part in the Summer Reading Challenge, undertaken in partnership with public libraries and supported by children's publishers. This summer a staggering 700 000 children are expected to take part, and an estimated 16 million books will be borrowed.

For more details on the Big Wild Read, please contact Andrea Reece of The Reading Agency on 020 8889 1292.