ALMOST 10,000 Wiltshire children got stuck into a good book over the holidays as record numbers took part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge.

The annual quest for primary school children to read six books over the holidays has been its most successful yet in the county, with 9,949 signing up for the challenge, reading 38,000 books.

This was the 13th time Wiltshire Council libraries has run the national scheme, which encourages children between four and 11 to read throughout the summer holidays.

Cabinet member for libraries Jonathon Seed paid tribute to the 250 volunteers who listened to children talk about their books, encouraging them and giving out rewards.

He said: “These are wonderful results and it brings together all that is best in our community libraries, with scores of volunteers making it work.

“The Summer Reading Challenge is a really important programme and these results shows it is popular and can really make a difference to children’s reading. Thanks to all the volunteers who generously gave their time.”

The national challenge issued by the Reading Agency and delivered by libraries aims to help children develop a love of reading and improve their reading ability.