Environmental theme for the 2021 Summer Reading Challenge

Teenage naturalist Dara McAnulty and award-winning explorer and presenter Steve Backshall will be ambassadors for this year's Summer Reading Challenge.

Dara McAnulty said, "I'm 17 years old now - but not so long ago, the Summer Reading Challenge was something myself and my siblings completed every summer. It's such a joy to now be an ambassador and encourage other children to take part in this wonderful scheme."

Steve Backshall said he was thrilled with the nature-themed reading challenge that will help inspire children to take action for the environment. "Wild World Heroes will spark conversations about the issues facing our planet, from plastic pollution to wildlife decline, and will show how we can all work together to look after our world."

He added, "By taking part in the Challenge, children will unlock the benefits of reading for pleasure - it's never been more important for young people to keep up their reading skills and confidence over the summer holidays. Wild World Heroes is a brilliant way to get children reading and talking about big issues! Happy Summer of Reading!"

The Summer Reading Challenge, delivered in partnership with public libraries, encourages reading for pleasure for children aged 4 to 11 over the summer holidays. The Challenge launches in Scotland and Northern Ireland on 19th June, and on 10th July in England and Wales.

Teaming up with WWF for 2021, this year's theme is Wild World Heroes which inspires children to explore ways of helping to save the planet. The annual Challenge reaches over 700,000 children across the UK each year.

A more digital approach to this year's challenge could see the number of children rise to 1 million, says the Reading Agency which runs the Summer Reading Challenge.  A 'Welcome to Wilderville: Meet the Heroes' digital campaign will run over summer with a different weekly habitat theme, led by the Wild World Heroes, including Woodland, River, Farm, Town, Home/School and the Beach. The characters and landscape are illustrated by award-winning children's author and illustrator Heath McKenzie.

With ideas from WWF, this year's Challenge focuses on action for nature and tackling real-world environmental issues, from plastic pollution and deforestation to wildlife decline and nature loss. Through taking part in the Challenge, with free packs from public libraries or online, children will be able to join six fictional characters - 'wild heroes' - to help solve some of these threats, learning about the importance of the environment while helping to restore nature levels in the neighbourhood of 'Wilderville'.