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Hello!

I’ve decided to undertake a reading challenge with my children this year, (because reading is awesome). We’re going to try to read 1,000 picture books by the time 2017 comes to an end, which sounds like a lot but is actually just under three per day on average (and works out around 1,095 if we stick to three per day).

Why do this? Well, the answer is fourfold:
  1. We love to read together as a family. It’s a chance to head off on amazing adventures just before bedtime, all from the comfort of your own home, with endless places to visit with your imagination engaged. It’s also proven to help lower the chances of child poverty and to improve happiness, attainment, and imagination.
  2. We’re going to try and raise money for charity, asking people to sponsor us with a penny per book, donating to the Book Trust to help them continue the excellent work they do with encouraging children to read.
  3. We want to encourage people to read all the fantastic books and authors that we come across, because they’re the reason we’re able to do this challenge.
  4. We also want to encourage people to use their local library, because libraries are one of our most valuable resources and at the heart of our communities, and the more they are used then the more they are likely to be saved.

Every day during 2017 (barring any problems such as illness, working away etc.) we will read at least three picture books with our children, publishing a small review of each and picking our favourite book of the day. At the end of each week we’ll pick our favourite of the week, and the same every month, finishing off by selecting our top three at the end of the year. If I get myself organised enough, I might even try to create a weekly vlog as well.

There’ll be a mix of new books and old favourites, with the only rule being that we can’t count a book more than once. We’ll also try to publish any interesting articles and lists about books and reading that we feel people will enjoy too. We want to encourage family and friends to join in with our challenge too, picking books to read with the children and letting us have their reviews.

When the challenge is completed, we’ll create a page specifically for how to donate sponsorship money when we know exactly how many books we’ve read. In the meantime, you can register your interest and ask for regular updates about how the challenge is going and what our favourite books have been by emailing picturebookchallenge@gmail.com (or filling out the form that I’m hoping to create at some point).

You’d better meet our reading team as well I suppose! Here we go:
Joshua
Age 4.5
Likes: Star Wars, Pirates, Singing
Dislikes: Vegetables
Special Power: Encyclopaedic knowledge of Star Wars, already

Xander
Age 2.5
Likes: Star Wars, Dinosaurs, Shouting
Dislikes: Being quiet
Special Power: Apparently powered by perpetual motion as he never seems to stop

Chris
Age 30
Likes: Star Wars, Libraries, Writing
Dislikes: Too long to list, but let's just say that I don't tolerate intolerance
Special Power: Librarying

Catherine
Age 31
Likes: Babywearing, the children, 
Dislikes:
Special Power

So that’s it! The Picture Book Challenge starts on 1st January 2017, and we’ll be spreading the word on social media and asking authors, illustrators, and anyone else we can to tell as many people as possible. We hope to raise money for a good cause, raise awareness of the benefits of reading, and have a fantastic year of reading with our family as we’re taken on adventure after adventure.

Thanks for stopping by to see what the Picture Book Challenge is all about!


Chris

2 comments:

  1. Hey! Well done guys, sounds like a fantastic family challenge to see in the NewYear! We're reading fans too, and think we average a good number of books a day too with the younger kids but the older ones are on to the great classics now ( like The Demon Headmaster and The Worst Witch) so it's slowing the count down! 😉 I'll keep checking out your blog for inspiration.

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    1. Hi :)

      I LOVED the Demon Headmaster series when I was young! Looking forward to getting our eldest started on it in the next couple of years. Glad to talk to other families who love reading together :)

      Thanks for checking out the blog and I hope you come across some picture books that you want to check out!

      Chris

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