Since 2022, we’ve worked with the Books Council of Wales across multiple projects, from promoting the importance and joy of reading to young people with the #CaruDarllen campaign to showcasing the impact their New Audiences Grant has in strengthening and diversifying the publishing industry here in Wales.
We were thrilled to be asked to work with them for a third year to produce videos promoting this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, the annual UK-wide challenge led by the charity The Reading Agency.
The Summer Reading Challenge encourages children to read for pleasure across the summer holidays and visit their local library to find fun and free books. With a fantastic list of books, children can collect stickers and prizes to celebrate their summer reading successes!
This year’s theme is creativity and being as sustainable as possible.
To execute this, we enlisted the help of illustrator, Valériane Leblond, bilingual author, Joanna Davies, National Poet of Wales, Hanan Issa, and green-fingered author, Adam Jones, whose books were all on the book list for this year’s challenge. Through sharing their passion for reading, getting creative and showing what local libraries can offer families, the vibrant videos will call on families across Wales to get involved.
To accompany the videos, we produced a bilingual activity sheet for families to complete during the summer. From creating a dragon with an egg-box carton to making a nature monster, the sustainable and inexpensive activities offer both independent and collaborative fun for children.
Filming in local libraries, parks in Penarth and the sites of Aberystwyth, this project aligns with what we love to do at Cowshed: supporting and promoting local communities around Wales.
Our senior campaign officer, Georgia, who led this project, said:
‘It was incredible to work on a project that aligns so much with one of my passions: reading. Reading books as you grow up is integral in expanding your imagination, vocabulary and provides escapism from your every day.’
‘The authors enthusiasm for reading and supporting local libraries brought these videos to life, and it was a joy to work with them in some beautiful locations across Wales to showcase their books and experiences.’
There’s still a couple more weeks left to go of the Summer Reading Challenge, you can get involved here https://llyfrau.cymru/en/digwyddiadau-arbennig/sialens-darllen-yr-haf/
