Children across Devon are going to be able to take a Deep Sea Adventure at their local library this summer as Libraries Unlimited launch their very own reading challenge.

Based on the charity's popular reading challenge for five to twelve-year-olds ‘The Secret Book Quest’, The Summer Book Quest sees beloved characters Pip, Zena and Libro head off on a new adventure.

The theme for the first year is The Deep Sea Adventure, based on the Underwater Zone in The Secret Book Quest.

The aim with creating this unique quest, is to engage as many children as possible in reading over the summer holidays and making it fun and engaging. To complete the quest, children are challenged to do three things: visit the library, read what they love and complete one or more of The Summer Book Quest activities.

Each completed task gives them a sticker and once they have them all they get a finisher sticker, keyring and certificate.

Activities are tied into the theme of The Deep Sea Adventure and offer lots of choices including ‘draw a sea creature, real or imagined’, ‘try a water activity like swimming or rock pooling’ and ‘tell a member of staff an underwater fact. To be more inclusive, children can now count how often they read for ten minutes or more or count how many books they read - they choose.

Devon children’s author Dan Metcalf was commissioned to create the story which introduces new characters including ninja starfish. And Emily Fox, who created the illustrations for The Secret Book Quest and Libros Friends, has done the illustrations.

Libraries Unlimited have linked up with Active Devon, Surfers Against Sewage and Surfing England for The Summer Book Quest. Surfing England will be sharing the information with their surf clubs across the county and providing prizes. Surfers Against Sewage are providing activity resources to libraries including access to their online Ocean School, they’re also providing prizes.

Active Devon are supporting by promoting the challenge and encouraging families to visit their local community pools.

Sophie Crofts, Reading Development Manager, Libraries Unlimited said: “It’s an exciting moment for us to be launching our own summer reading challenge and a natural progression for our year-round reading challenges.

“It is more vital than ever to encourage children to enjoy reading as one in four children hasn't reached the expected level of reading by the age of 11.

“It has been proven that reading for pleasure is more important for children's cognitive development than their parents' level of education and is a more powerful factor in life achievement than socio-economic background.

“As Devon is a coastal county, the underwater theme allows connection with our communities, and we can promote the importance of looking after our oceans and planet.

The Summer Book Quest will be launched on July 12 and is available until September 6.

It’s completely free to join the library and take on the quest, just head down to your local library and they will give you a pack to get you started on The Deep Sea Adventure.