At PlusKids we launched a reading challenge for the children.
Each child received their own bookshelf and, after every literary adventure, fills in a reading sheet and colours in the book they have read. The idea behind it is simple and works at any age: progress has to be visible. A child who reads without recording anything has no way of knowing how much they have read; one who has a shelf in front of them that slowly fills with colour can see exactly what they have done and wants to carry on.
The reading sheet does the rest. It asks for rather more than "I read it": who the characters are, what happened, what you liked and why. Short questions, but ones that change the way reading happens — a child who knows a sheet is waiting reads more attentively from the very first page.
To keep the competition fair, we set clear reading criteria by year group. A first-year and a fourth-year pupil cannot be put on the same shelf: the first needs encouragement for every page, the second needs a genuine challenge. When the thresholds are right, everyone can win something and the competition discourages nobody.
The initiative does not only encourage reading; it also builds the creativity and the sense of responsibility of our young readers.