Denbighshire  families will be invited to compete in a penalty shoot out next week – at Rhyl Library.
On Tuesday July 22,  children’s football writer, Tom Palmer, will be the keeper. The shoot out is part of a Football Reading Family Fun Day being hosted by the library to encourage children and young people to read about football and use their library. The event is for children aged 7-14 and their families.
The fun day takes place at a time when libraries are doing lots to use sport to encourage reading. Libraries throughout the UK are celebrating sports reading with Team Read, the Summer Reading Challenge, six weeks of sports reading activity for children in the summer holidays. In addition, one of the National Year of Reading’s monthly themes is sport: Read the Game.
The event will be hosted by Tom Palmer, who is a children’s author published by Puffin. He is in Rhyl to promote his new football mystery, Foul Play, a novel aimed at football-loving children aged eight and upwards.
Tom said: ‘I hated reading until I was seventeen. My mum got me into books – and libraries – using football as a hook. That’s what I hope this event will achieve for reluctant readers in Rhyl.’
Bethan Hughes, children’s librarian for Denbighshire said: ‘This fun day will be great fun! It will give us a chance to show off all the brilliant sports reading there is in libraries, and to reach children who may not be big library users now, but who, like Tom, could have their lives changes by books and libraries.’
The Football Reading Family Fun Day takes place on July 22, from 2.00pm to 6.00pm. Entrance is free in what will be a drop-in event. For further information, please contact Rhyl Library on 01745 353814.