A phenomenal 40 years' worth of reading has been achieved by local kids taking part in Tauranga City Library's summer reading challenge, Kia Kaha te Pānui.

The Tauranga City Library has been running reading challenges for more than 20 years – yet none have ever been of this year's calibre.

'This year has been our biggest ever in terms of numbers participating and also in exciting evolutions,” says library manager Joanna Thomas.

More than 1400 children from ages zero to 18 years old registered in the challenge.

Each day that kids read gets logged onto a reading tracking app called Beanstack. Joanna says the number of days kids doing Kia Kaha te Pānui have done some reading is close to 15,000.

'That comes to 40 years of daily reading, if you add all their efforts together. This figure grows every day and it's really exciting to watch.”

Joanna says that getting kids involved in summer reading challenges gives them a great start to the new school year.

'It's been proved that consistent reading is the best way to prevent the ‘summer slump', ensuring children don't return to school after the holidays with a lower reading level than when they left.

'At its heart, Kia Kaha te Pānui: Summer Reads has also always been about encouraging children to discover a love of reading and stories. It's a win for parents, teachers, and kids!”

So what have these book worms been reading?

Joanna says books such as Hairy Maclary, Geronimo Stilton, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and all of Anh Do's series remain firm favourites among kids.

'But the variety is great to see – we've had kids share with us books of science experiments, atlases, comics and poop – the poo that animals do!”

Joanna hopes that kids take away an appreciation of how awesome libraries and reading are.

'We always hope that participating in Kia Kaha te Pānui and chatting to the librarians makes them enjoy the library and feel comfortable in our spaces. It's wonderful when they return regularly throughout the year to get their hands on lots more stories.”

The final day to check-in in with the library team and share what you've been reading is Monday, January 23.

Kids aged 0-10 years old who complete their reading challenge missions receive a certificate, prize book and an invite to the finale party. Teens are awarded a Prezzy card to choose their own book, so get reading this weekend!

For more information visit: library.tauranga.govt.nz