The Hull fREADom Quest

The Hull fREADom Quest was founded in 2017, with funding from The James Reckitt Library Trust, as a response to wanting a bespoke summer reading challenge that allowed Hull Libraries to respond to the needs of young people in Hull.

In 2017 children from Cleeve Primary School in Bransholme, worked with Hull Libraries to create Hull-themed characters to feature in the challenge. There’s a friendly bee lady called Jean, an adventuring Moth named Amy, North the Penguin, King Billy the Elephant, Blade the Seagull and Wilber the Peacock.

Based on the concept of a treasure quest, the libraries team created a challenger booklet, which included six fun activities. From designing a dream reading den to a library scavenger hunt - the interactive activity map of Hull encouraged young people to read in unusual places across the city and to tick off and colour in where their reading adventures had taken them. Challenger booklets were available in all 12 libraries from Saturday 29 July 2017 until the end of the school summer holidays.

The Hull fREADom Quest is back for a second year with a circus theme to mark the Circus 250 anniversary. In the run up to the summer holidays a troop of circus practitioners perfomed in local schools to help promote the Hull fREADom Quest and the extensive range of children’s summer activities happening in local libraries.

Each week children complete activities based around each book they read and record their thoughts in a special booklet. They can visit any library to get their booklet stamped, collect a character sticker and choose a new book.

Children who have completed the quest by reading six books will be invited to attend a special circus-themed celebration event at Hull City Hall on Sunday 23 September 2018. They will be entertained by author AF Harrold, who wrote ‘Fizzlebert Stump The Boy who ran away from the Circus (and joined the Library)’ and will receive a certificate and a special character badge for their achievement.