The time has come for the Summerland Library’s annual Spring Break Reading Challenge.
This year, our challenge is centred around Dav Pilkey, the author of Captain Underpants, Dog Man, Ricky Ricotta and much more.
Pilkey has gone to say that he was a responsible student, in the sense that if anything bad happened, he was responsible.
He was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD and because there wasn’t much knowledge surrounding these diagnoses back then, it led to him being sent out in the hallways where he would make up stories and design his own comic books. It was in second grade that Pilkey created Captain Underpants, an iconic character that I read in elementary school and continues to be popular today. At the sight of Captain Underpants in the homemade comic book, Pilkey’s teacher ripped up the pages and told him that he couldn’t “waste his life making silly books.”
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Luckily, Pilkey didn’t listen.
Pilkey continued to struggle as he made his way into high school, where the teachers still didn’t understand how he would learn best.
It wasn’t until his freshman year of college where he was caught doodling in his notebook during an English class that a teacher finally recognized his talent. The teacher found his writing to be hilarious and encouraged him to write children’s books which led him to create over 35 books.
Pilkey has become a huge advocate for literacy and has created the campaign “Reading gives you Superpowers” which is aimed towards turning reluctant readers into life-long ones. This makes him the perfect author to showcase in our reading challenge.
Readers up to 12 years old are invited to participate in the Pilkey Palooza Spring Break Reading Challenge which is designed to promote literacy outside of school in fun, creative ways.
The challenge starts March 14 and continues through spring break until March 28.
To participate, all you need to do is come to the library to sign up, read your favourite books, complete the activities on the challenge sheet and bring it back to the library for a prize. If you complete all the activities on the sheet you will receive a free book on us! There are also some special prizes to be given out at random.
Some of the activities in the Pilkey Palooza Spring Break Reading Challenge include, read to a Captain Underpants plushie in the library, create your own comic strip, read a book by a new-to-you author and of course, read a book written by Dav Pilkey.
We can’t wait to see you at the library!
Kayley Robb is an assistant community librarian at the Summerland Branch of the Okanagan Regional Library.
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