Purple Mash Library Summer Reading Challenge: The Great Library Getaway

With the school year being in its final term and the summer holidays approaching, Purple Mash is offering an exciting opportunity to keep the reading momentum going with their Purple Mash Library Summer Reading Challenge: The Great Library Getaway.

Teachers - imagine your students embarking on a literary adventure filled with captivating stories, interactive activities, and a world of imagination, all from the comfort of their homes or even away on holiday!

In this blog post, we'll explore why signing up your class for The Great Library Getaway is a must-do for educators who want to inspire a love for reading that lasts a lifetime.

What is Purple Mash Library?

Purple Mash Library is a collection of over 250 digital books housed inside a brilliant online platform. It's specifically designed for primary school teachers and pupils, and is accessible to anyone with a Purple Mash account. With 8 different libraries, there’s something for everyone, at each stage of their reading journey.

Go All In during the National Year of Reading

The National Year of Reading 2026 is a campaign delivered by the National Literacy Trust to address the steep decline in reading amongst children, young people and adults.

Since The National Year of Reading began, reading enjoyment rose for the first time in four years, but socio-economic inequalities have continued to widen, with enjoyment rising more among those not receiving free school meals.

The National Year of Reading aims to encourage more people to read regularly with their approach of 'Go All In', by drawing people into reading through their interests and passions.

Students can Go All In with Purple Mash's DK Library - a collection of non-fiction titles across a range of topics. Within the rest of the Purple Mash Library, children can also search for fiction books by genre, or topic.

What is The Great Library Getaway?

The Great Library Getaway is an engaging initiative designed to encourage children to read during the summer break. Purple Mash users will get access to extra resources, including weekly challenges, to motivate them to read more over the summer. The Purple Mash Library platform will automatically track reading of its online books, and those minutes will add up to score prizes. 

Pupils might choose to set themselves a reading target, or teachers may want to set a whole class reading target to encourage participation.

How can The Great Library Getaway help?

By taking part in The Great Library Getaway summer reading challenge, schools can encourage children to read over the holidays, providing them with access to eBooks across 8 different libraries, so it’s certain you’ll find something for every reader in your class:

Children also have access to an online reading journal, which automatically adds books read on Purple Mash Library. Books from outside the platform can also be added easily by searching the title or typing in the ISBN number. Teachers, parents and children can add comments on each entry in the journals, as well as adding reward stickers!

In addition to the eBooks and reading journals, teachers also have access to downloadable reading comprehension and writing activities related to the books. These activities enhance comprehension, critical thinking and literacy skills while making the reading experience more interactive and enjoyable.

The Great Library Getaway Prizes

To make the reading challenge even more exciting, there are prizes up for grabs:

• The school with most minutes read (as an average per student) will win £300 off a Purple Mash subscription
• Top readers will win 2Simple goody bags
• A selection of randomised prizes will be given out throughout the challenge too!

How to take part in The Great Library Getaway

To take part in the summer reading challenge, all you need to do is sign up and you'll receive guidance on how to get started, a letter to parents to help them encourage their children to read over the summer, as well as other resources to help encourage participation including a weekly challenge sheet and certificates!

Raise money with Read and Raise

With The Great Library Getaway, you can also raise money through our partner, Read and Raise. Read and Raise is a unique school fundraising platform that allows schools to focus on literacy development while raising some much needed funds through sponsored reads.

Everything you could need to make your fundraiser a success is provided to you by Read and Raise from a fundraiser poster, parent information letters, how to register letters and reminder letters. Parents simply register their children and send out their child's premade donation text message from the platform to family and friends who offer donations to encourage the child to read as much as they can during the fundraiser.

Via the business sponsorship tool, businesses can also pay to take out a digital ad on your fundraiser which is a great additional revenue generator for your school.

Plumcroft School raised over £2,500 in just a couple of weeks with their reading fundraiser. Hear what headteacher, Richard Slade had to say about the process here.