My Baby just completed the Summer Reading Challenge!

[SupportiveMum202]

Hi all,

My DC has just finished the Read to the Beat 2026 National Summer Reading Challenge! I'm so proud of her!

It's been quite tough for her, transitioning into big school and being in a classroom with strangers she doesn't know, but she's been so brave and handled things really well!

She's got a certificate, bookmarks, her own magazine, a badge and character cards to keep.

You can see which 6 books she's read over the month to achieve this.

Also pictured are what books we're reading now: My partner and I took the first one (as Bella has 2 mums), Put Your Records On (a little black girl magic from my R'n'B era), and Bella loves kittens and unicorns.

Is your child doing the Summer Reading Challenge? If so, how are they getting on? If not, why not? Go to your local library and join up today!

I'd maybe suggest asking your AI to use fewer exclamation marks and to mention that this is a library challenge rather earlier on. And not to call your 5(?) year old a "baby".

But full marks for ticking your diversity targets.

' Baby ' and she has just finished Reception class ?

I haven't used AI at all in this and I literally said what this library challenge is in the first sentence. That's just what I call all my children regardless of age.
It's not a "diversity target" it's just who I am (music is a part of our culture).

How does being a troll make you feel? 🤔🤨

If you've got nothing useful to contribute, then just shut up and get off Mumsnet* *

Lol its js how we talk abt our kids in my community.

Well done, Bella! DC1’s English teacher in y8 said at parents evening that they ‘inhale’ books (constant reading and fast reader). I’ll just say that DC1 turned out to be super academic, got a 1st from Imperial College and now works full time as a theoretical physicist. I suspect that the voracious reading and tbe academic excellence are connected. Keep encouraging her! Reading is obviously fun too. DC1 reads a lot of fantasy and romance to relax.

You didn’t say it was a library challenge in your first sentence. I thought this was another crap advert to be honest.

It’s great you’d kid found this and has enjoyed it. It works for some kids but not all so that’s why mine aren’t doing it, they do still read tho. Sorry you’ve had a hard time so far but it does very much read like an ad to be fair

Maybe your baby can help you with reading. The first time you use the word library is the last sentence.

God why are people so mean? And does it matter if she used AI to write her post?

Sounds like an advert for the summer reading challenge TBH.
My 3 have done it every year since they were 4.

I realise OP is wrong but that’s unnecessarily rude on a children’s books board.

Quite. I don’t know, maybe OP has used AI, and maybe this is just an advert posting as an authentic parent testimonial. But even if that’s the case, it’s an advert for a free campaign to improve children’s literacy. I don’t see why anyone would feel the need to have a go at someone trying to spread the word about something that only seeks to benefit children. How sad.

Wow, not very nice. I know MN is a nest of vipers but sometimes there’s just no need to be gratuitously nasty. My DC are all a lot older now but I still understand what the Summer Reading Challenge is because I spent a lot of their childhoods in the library.
And yes, it does sound a bit like an advert but it’s the children’s books bit of MN and anything that promotes library use is a good thing.

Wow. I thought that was good going for an under 2 year old!

This isn't a board for people to advertise events (no matter how worthy, and I really value the library reading scheme).

I gave OP hints about how to use AI to get a better post. I am happy if she has genuine child that has enjoyed the reading scheme. She is more likely to get people to engage if she posts like that

Why is everyone pretending not to believe that this is a big fat advert?

Several people have pointed out the ad nature of it.

Honestly, the title of this thread reminded me of 'Round Robin' letters which we used to get from one of DH's colleagues which used to read "DD can speak 3 languages & is doing well with her violin lessons. She has won 3 swimming medals in the past few weeks and is achieving well in all aspects of gymnastics. We hope you will all be able to join us when we celebrate her 2nd birthday next month"

I'm so glad your DD (NOT a baby!) has done the Reading Challenge. This is obviously a worthwhile achievement. But I do think you were wrong to say in your last paragraph "Is your child doing the reading challenge? If not, why not?

Children have totally different abilities and interests and will spend the summer holidays doing all sorts of activities, some structured, some not. It's unfair to them and their parents to suggest that there's something wrong if they aren't completing a Reading Challenge, even though it's obviously beneficial. Sport, music, art, foreign & staycation holidays, free time to play with other children are all important as well.

Everyone except all the people who said ‘this sounds like an ad’?

We've aged out of it now, but DS did it every year from age 3.5. He read his own books too.
The best year was the Roald Dahl postcards and wallet. The quality of the give outs has definitely gone downhill.

I’m assuming it’s not an ad, as it would be a strange thing for a library to do. I think just a really bad case of precious first born syndrome.
But it’s great to do summer reading challenge, mine finished it about a week ago, so it’s a distant memory 😆 but it’s a nice thing to do.

I mean...an advert for a freely accessible challenge available at all local libraries in England? (Maybe UK?) Even if it is, hard to get worked up about tbh 😅

Well it lets people know it exists… although it would have been better if she’d have made it clear from the start for people who didn’t already know. I agree it’s not a big deal though

I also thought it was AI, as in marketing not someone using AI to help form their post.

fwiw I actually disagree that this is written by AI. Unless people suppose that OP created a post with AI and then went through and added grammatical errors and non-AI phraseology throughout. At which point it’s not really AI anymore.

It is also very blatantly not something cooked up by a professional. If it’s not obvious to you from OP’s first post, it should be from her subsequent ones.

So at most… I’d be willing to believe that perhaps OP is an enthusiastic employee of a small library looking to spread the word. It’s far more likely that she’s just an enthusiastic parent.

either way… I don’t see why you’d want to make unpleasant comments.