The Summer Reading Challenge returns to Camberley with a musical twist this year, launching in the town centre on Saturday 4 July. Surrey County Council confirmed the 2026 theme is ‘Read to the Beat’, with a celebration running from 10am to 1pm. Later that afternoon, storyteller John Kirk leads a free Musical Story Hunt at Camberley Library between 2pm and 3pm, an interactive session full of rhythm and imagination for children aged three and over.
The library says the event is packed with storytelling fun, exploring tales of music and rhythm to mark the challenge’s launch. Families can also catch a library stall at the Summer Beach Party in the town centre on Saturday 18 July, open from 10am to 4pm. Hook-A-Duck games, book lucky dips, and stationery sales will be on offer throughout the day.
The launch comes as the library wraps up a two-week refurbishment that began on 22 June. Regular children’s sessions – Storytime on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Rhymetime on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays – are suspended until the work finishes on 4 July. In the meantime, Rhymetime continues at nearby Frimley Green Library and Lightwater Library. From Tuesday 28 July, the library introduces Soundscapes, a series of £1 sessions for five- to eight-year-olds exploring themes from rainforests to city sounds, running weekly until 25 August.
Craft sessions follow in August, with children making spinning maracas and musical shakers on Saturdays the 11th and 25th at 11am. Each session costs £1 and is open to anyone aged five and above. The Summer Reading Challenge is run nationally by The Reading Agency, with libraries across the UK taking part each year.
Adults can also get involved when author August Bloom visits the library on 11 July for ‘Step into the Tiny Magic Bookshop’, a separate event celebrating the written word.
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