Schools using the fun reading scheme Buster's Book Club are being invited to join a free pilot to encourage pupils to read over the summer break.

The popular initiative which promotes reading for pleasure - through weekly inter-class and monthly inter-school challenges - has been adapted to include the six weeks of the summer holidays.

A focus group made up of schools currently using Buster's Book Club have shaped the pilot scheme. Every single school opting in to use Buster's Summer Reading Challenge will receive 30 leisure attraction vouchers to reward the children in the winning class, and the reading minutes recorded will feed into next academic year's totals.

The 26,000 children at 90 schools currently using Buster's Book Club have achieved a record seven million minutes of reading this year and, with all-year-round reading on the agenda in future, the figure is expected to grow with subsequent improved reading levels for participating children.

Simon Dolby said: "This is a very exciting development for Buster's Book Club and our charity. We are passionate about improving children's reading levels and the wealth of research available makes a clear link between reading for pleasure and improved literacy levels. Our scheme aims to hype excitement of reading for fun at home to provide that bedrock of support for the great work going on at school. Extending our scheme over the summer to ensure children maintain the habit of reading is the logical next step for us."

The scheme will also encourage pupils to visit their local library and use the Kent Library Summer Reading Challenge as the source of the material to read for Buster’s Challenge, as well as benefit from the medal and fun resources the library initiative provides.

Buster’s Book Club is a flagship feature of KM Year of Reading and is supported by Kent County Council, Medway Council, Kent Libraries, Three R’s teacher recruitment, Kent Reliance, Specsavers, Bel UK, Orbit housing association, Leeds Castle, and Golding Vision.

Schools wanting to join the pilot summer scheme should contact Charli Elvy at celvy@thekmgroup.co.uk.

To find out more about Buster's Book Club, visit www.bustersbookclub.co.uk