AN amazing 25,394 children took part in this year’s free annual Summer Reading Challenge at Hampshire’s libraries, reading a total of 100,000 books.

To mark the triumph, children visited Bordon library to collect their medals and enjoy a party for “finishers” on Monday, September 17. A spokesman at Bordon Library said there had been more than 400 “starters” at the library and nearly 200 finishers.

Hampshire County Council’s executive member for recreation and heritage Sean Woodward said: “Our young readers have done brilliantly in the Summer Reading Challenge and it was great to see all the mischief being created and the range of books being read – my congratulations go to all those who took part.”

Run by the Reading Agency, the Summer Reading Challenge is aimed at four to 11 year olds.

The challenge to the children is to read any six books over a two-month period from mid July to mid September.

This year, the theme was mischief makers - in honour of the 80th anniversary of the Beano comics.

Each finisher received a gold medal and a certificate in recognition of their achievement as well as a completed map of Beanotown. “A special thanks goes to all the library staff and volunteers, including our young volunteers, who contributed to the success of the challenge, from running school assemblies to listening to children each time they returned to record their reading total,” the council’s Mr Woodward added.