The Henry Bloom Noble Library is offering children an opportunity not to be ‘myth-ed’: to take part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, The Mythical Maze.

Sponsored by Scottish Widows for the seventh year in succession the challenge, an initiative of independent charity The Reading Agency and supported by the library, aims to open up the world of books to children, encourage creativity and widen their reading range by challenging them to read six library books during the summer holidays.

The Mythical Maze, which has images by top British-American illustrator Sarah Macintyre, challenges children to find their way through a labyrinth that introduces them to fantastical creatures from the world of legend and mythology, collecting stickers of each character along the way.

Over the summer school holiday the library will be holding ‘a-maze-ing’ workshops.

They’re on July 23rd and 30th and August 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th from 10.30 to 11.30am and 3 to 4pm. Every week there’ll be a different mythical theme, from monsters to mermaids…and more, with masses of activities so the hour-long sessions will definitely not ‘drag on’. There’s also a ‘Design Your Own Mythical Creature’ competition with three prizes on offer, a true or false quiz about mythical creatures with more prizes and the chance to submit book reviews and win book tokens.

Entry to the workshops is by tickets only, priced £1 per child. Full details are given in the goodie bags that come as part of the registration package.

All children who complete the challenge will be invited to a presentation ceremony later in the year where they will receive a medal and certificate from the Mayor of Douglas, Councillor Stan Cain.

Borough librarian Jan Macartney said: ‘Once again we’re delighted to welcome Scottish Widows colleagues to the library for this, our seventh Summer Reading Challenge. We’re also extremely grateful to Scottish Widows for their continued support of an initiative that has the power to inspire in children a love of books and help combat any dip in literacy levels over the summer holidays.’

Scottish Widows’ managing director Juan Clarke said: ‘As part of the Lloyds Banking Group Scottish Widows is keen to get behind community schemes that can really make a difference, in particular those that help develop young people’s skills and self-confidence. Colleagues are always keen to volunteer to assist Jan and her team during the workshops and they have as much fun as the children.’

The Henry Bloom Noble Library is an accredited Isle of Man Children’s University learning destination, which means every child with a Passport to Learning will be entitled to earn a stamp for every book they read and every workshop event they attend.

Mythical Maze registration opens at the library on Saturday July 19th from 10am then continues daily Monday to Saturday at the ground floor counter of the library.

For more information follow the Summer Reading Challenge on Facebook. (Please refer to the panel opposite).

The Henry Bloom Noble Library is at 10 Victoria Street, Douglas.