Summer Reading Challenge

Story Garden

The summer holidays are fast approaching, and youngsters across Derbyshire are being encouraged to sign up to this year’s Summer Reading Challenge to explore the magical connection between storytelling and nature through reading. All Derbyshire County Council libraries will be taking part in the annual Challenge (presented by The Reading Agency) which will be officially launched on Saturday 5^th July 2025. This year’s theme is Story Garden – Adventures in Nature and the Great Outdoors.

The Story Garden theme will provide plenty of opportunities for children to explore their imagination and experience adventures in nature and the great outdoors through the power of reading. The Challenge is delivered in partnership with libraries and designed to ensure that primary school children’s reading doesn’t ‘dip’ over the summer, as well as providing much-needed entertainment. Children can sign up at their local library, with the challenge being to read six or more library books over the summer. Youngsters will collect up to six stickers and once they have collected them all they will have completed the Challenge and received a medal and certificate.

Derbyshire libraries will be hosting a variety of events and activities to entertain children over the summer holidays with many linked to the Challenge theme, Story Garden. For more information contact ask.library@derbyshire.gov.uk, visit Summer Reading Challenge, check Facebook or contact your local library for details. Last year’s challenge saw 4,477 people signing up to the challenge in Derbyshire, with 723 more children joining the library so that they could take part. The Challenge is free to join and runs until 6^th September 2025.

(Story Garden illustrations by Dapo Adeolo, illustrations & logo The Reading Agency 2025)

July Activities for Families:

Lots of exciting events are planned:

• Every Friday - Somercotes Library- Baby Chat Group - parents chat while babies play - 10am-12.30pm - 01629 533970
• Saturday 5th July - Belper Library - start the Summer Reading Challenge and join in with our family craft session. This is a drop-in session suitable for families with children aged 4-11 years - 10am-1pm - 01629 533192
• Saturday 5^th July – Borrowash Library – fun wildlife hunt around the library – 9.30am-12.30pm – no real creepy crawlies – just hidden paper characters to find! - 01629 533448
• Saturday 5^th July -19^th July – Borrowash Library – all library opening times – make a wildlife wonderland display - 01629 533448
• Saturday 5th July - Heanor Library - Make a flower themed suncatcher and grow your own cress - 10.30am-12.30pm - 01629 533795
• Saturday 5th July - Matlock Library - Drop in to make a pine cone bug and take part in a Story Garden treasure hunt - 10am-1.30pm - 01629 533837
• Saturday 5^th July – Pinxton Library – make a grass head rock monster & board games – 10am-12pm – 01629 535815
• Saturday 5^th July – Ripley Library – 10am-1pm – decorate a plant pot and plant a seed to take home with you. Suitable for children aged 5+ - 01629 532982
• Saturday 5^th July – Swadlincote Library – Lego ‘garden’ challenge – 10am-12pm – 01629 533013
• Wednesday 9^th July – Etwall Library - Summer/Garden Themed Craft and Story time for under fives and their carers – 10.30am-12.30pm - 01629  532633
• Thursday 10^th July & 24^th July – Holmewood Library – Rhyme Time – songs & actions - 10.30-11am – 01629 533355
• Saturday 12^th July – Pinxton Library – Lego Creators – Duplo, Mega bricks & Lego - 10am-12pm – 01629 535815
• Saturday 12th July - Wirksworth Library - come and meet Gary the Worm - story read by author Lee Ambrose-Smith, followed by book signing opportunity - 10.30-11.30am - 01629 533730
• Thursday 17^th July – Holmewood Library – making seed bombs & bird feeders – 3-5pm – 01629 533355
• Thursday 17^th July – Pinxton Library – After school crafts, ‘at the beach’ – 3-4.30 pm - 01629 535815
• Thursday 17^th July – Wirksworth Library – Dance, sing and shake your thing at Wirksworth Library’s Children’s Singalong (0-5) – 2.15-2.45pm – 01629 533730
• Saturday 19^th July – 2^nd August – Borrowash Library – all library opening times – make sunflowers – 01629 533448
• Saturday 19^th July – Pinxton Library – Saturday Puzzling Puzzles - 10am-12pm – 01629 535815
• Saturday 19^th July – Swadlincote Library – Summer storytime for under 12’s – 11-11.30am - 01629 533013  
• Wednesday 23^rd July – Long Eaton Library – make a garden pebble bug – 10.30am-12pm - 01629 531470
• Saturday 26^th July – Pinxton Library – Saturday Mix Up crafts -10am-12pm – 01629 535815
• Saturday 26^th July – South Normanton Library – draw a fantasy garden - 10am-12pm – 01629 535000
• Tuesday 29th July - Belper Library - Meet and Make Children’s Craft Workshop – make summer flowers. This crafty workshop  is delivered by Fleet Arts and is suitable for children 7 years and over - 2-3.30pm - contact the library to book a place - 01629 533192
• Wednesday 30th July - Ashbourne Library - Flower Power, Stetch, smile, grow - fun, crafts and musical activities with Flower Power author Caroline Wedd, suitable for ages 4-10 - 10am-12pm - booking is essential - 01629 533950
• Wednesday 30th July - Matlock Library - Hand flower pot paper craft, for children 3+ - 10.30am-12.30pm - 01629 533837
• Wednesday 30^th July – Swadlincote Library – The secret garden – make a pop up card – 11am-12pm - 01629 533013
• Thursday 31st July - Ashbourne Library - Make & frame, create a nature picture - 10am-12pm - 01629 533950
• Thursday 31^st July – Long Eaton Library – make a paper windchime – 10.30am-12pm - 01629 531470
• Thursday 31^st July – Swadlincote Library – Holiday Rhyme Time - Join in the fun with action rhymes and songs, age 0-3 and older siblings – 10-10.30am – 01629 533013

All events are free drop-ins unless otherwise stated. Please ring the phone number provided for more information.

Adult Events in July

Come along to a variety of events and information for adults in libraries:

• Beginning of July to end of August - New Mills - Art Exhibition - A selection of exceptional paintings by renowned local artist, Brian Nolan - 01629 533195
• All month - Wirksworth Library - Tony Holmes Artwork Exhibition - multimedia landscape artwork - 01629 533730
• Every Tuesday - Pinxton Library - Weekly Creative/Mindfulness Colouring - join us to relax and colour your troubles away - 3:15-4pm - 01629 535815
• Every First Tuesday - South Normanton Library - coffee and chat - 10:30-11:30am - monthly coffee morning for adults, with optional mindful colouring - 01629 535000
• Every Tuesday - Wirksworth Library - Knit & Knatter - 2pm-4.30pm - 01629 533730
• Every Wednesday - Heanor Library - Craft Yourself Calm - Join our friendly group of crafters for a different craft each week, or bring your own and share ideas - 1-2pm - 01629 533795
• Every Thursday - Pinxton Library - Weekly Coffee & Conversation - relax and have a chat with coffee and biscuits - 11am-12.30pm - 01629 535815
• Every Thursday - Somercotes Library - Mindful Colouring - A drop in session, colouring sheets and pencils/pens provided for mindful colouring and conversation - 4.15-5pm - 01629 533970
• Wednesday 9th July - Swadlincote Library -  Craftanoon - learn a new craft - booking only - 2-4pm - 01629 533013
• Thursday 10th and 24th July - Swadlincote Library - Crochet Club - 1-3pm - informal crochet club for adults - 01629 533013
• Monday 14th July - Somercotes Library - Adult craft group - 3-4pm - (Then every second Monday) - 01629 533970
• Tuesday 22nd July - Belper Library- Board Game Club - fun and welcoming for all ages, we have a range of classic and modern board games for you to try, and support from our volunteer to get you started - 4-6pm - 01629 533192
• Wednesday 23rd July - Ashbourne Library - Citizens Advice Autism information drop in and social - 10am-4pm - further information here
• Friday 25th July - Somercotes Library - Reader Group - 2.15-3.30pm - 01629 533970

All events are free drop-ins unless otherwise stated. Please ring the phone number provided for more information.

A History of Trebor

Join us for a special local history talk by Dave Gregg at Chesterfield Library on Thursday 3rd July, at 10am

This is a free event and no booking is necessary.

For more information on Trebor, look here!

(Image from 'The Trebor Story' by Matthew Crampton)

Derbyshire Record Office

Coal mining ancestors

Do you have ancestors who worked in coal mines? The National Coal Board Records we hold may help you find out more about them. The archive includes employee registers, accident books and a great deal of correspondence. Our guide to Finding Coal Mining Ancestors has tips on how to use the NCB collection and where to find more information.

Follow us on Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook.

(A book from our Local Studies Library)

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery

The Mermaid's Garden

Come and see Buxton's famous mermaid and take part in a fun activity and enter to win a prize, at Buxton Library.

Free for all the family and no booking required.

Drop in between 10 am and 4 pm on:

Tuesdays: 29 July and 5, 12, 19, 26 August

Thursdays: 31 July, 7, 14, 21, 28 August

For more information on the Museum, look here.

Multi-Use titles 

Every month we get a new selection of titles on our FREE BorrowBox app of both eBooks and eAudiobooks that can be taken out by multiple users at one time. These stay multi-use for 60 days, so if you have a book club and you're looking for your next title then one of these could be your next choice! 

You can find these titles on the main BorrowBox page, identified as a collection with 'No Waiting!' or 'Available Now!'

Titles available from July are:

In eBook & eAudio:

• All Fours - Miranda July
• Last Place You Look - Louisa Scarr
• Munich Wolf - Rory Clements

In eAudiobook only:

• First Wife's Shadow - Adele Parks
• The Moonlight Market - Joanne Harris

In eBook Only:

• The Country Village Allotment - Cathy Lake

New Adult Books

Here are three new exciting novels and a non-fiction title for you to discover in July! 

These wicked devices - Matthew Plampin

Rome, 1650.

The streets are teeming as thousands of pilgrims flood in for the Holy Jubilee, but behind the gilded façade of the Vatican, power is unravelling.

Donna Olimpia Maidalchini has long kept Pope Innocent X under her thumb, but as loyalties shift, her enemies close in. And her most dangerous opponents may be those she deems too weak to matter. Two destitute nuns arrive, fleeing the ruined city of Castro and each carrying secrets that could destroy them.

Meanwhile, the assistant to the famed Spanish artist Diego Velázquez is drawn into a perilous conspiracy – one that could bring Italy to its knees, and against which his own desperate ambitions seem to count for nothing, that is.

A rock and a hard place - J D Kirk

DCI Jack Logan is back!

When washed-up 80s rock legend Johnny Freestone is found dead in a cave off Scotland's North Coast 500 tourist route, it looks like a tragic accident–another celebrity lost to a reckless lifestyle.

But Police Scotland detective–and secret Freestone fan–Jack Logan isn’t convinced that the star's death was an accident. As Logan delves into Johnny's final days, he uncovers a trail of bitter rivalries, broken promises, and a comeback tour that wasn’t quite what it seemed.

Secrets of the starlit sea - Santa Montefiore

The moment Pixie Tate steps inside the opulent Aldershoff Hotel in Manhattan, one of the last relics of New York's Gilded Age, she senses instantly that its elegant walls hide a dark secret.

Pixie knows that she must use her unique gift to travel back in time in order to discover the mysteries of the past, and as she slips back over a hundred years, she's shocked to find herself in the midst of one of the most famous events in history.

As the stars twinkle overhead, Pixie realises that time is running out. But when she comes face-to-face with a man she thought she'd lost forever, will she keep her promise to save only the souls she should - or is it too late, and has she already changed the future?

Smartphone nation: why we're all addicted to screens and what you can do about it - 

Kaitlyn Regehr

The tools you need to protect yourself – and your family – from online harm.

If you’re worried about the effect screens are having on your kids, or will have in the future, Smartphone Nation is the book you need. We advise young people, when they encounter online harm to speak to the adults in their lives. But most adults don’t understand the algorithmic processes driving this content and so, we don’t have the tools to support young people when they most need it.

Now, in Smartphone Nation, we do.

Dr Kaitlyn Regehr – one of the UK’s leading experts on digital literacy – explains what we and our kids are being fed on our devices and, crucially, how to take control over it.

Children's Book Recommendations

One of our favourite things to do is recommend amazing children's books to you! This month we recommend you check out these titles:

The big-time boogie-woogie animal band - Giles Andreae and Nick East (Illustrator)

When a music-loving dog meets a fox with a fiddle, they decide to start a BOOGIE-WOOGIE ANIMAL BAND!

Before long, the pair are joined by a lion with a lute, a tiger with a tuba, and a piano-playing penguin. As more friends join them, the band keeps getting bigger and bigger and BIGGER!

But there's one band member missing . . . Who could it be?

My teacher is a diamond thief! - Pamela Butchart and Thomas Flintham (Illustrator)

When Izzy and friends get a new teacher, they are immediately suspicious. Why does she have two computers set up on her desk? Why does she speak Spanish when they're supposed to be doing maths? Why does she have a pink wig and sunglasses in her car? And WHY DOES SHE HAVE A DRAWER FULL OF DIAMONDS? Because she's an international jewel thief, of course, and MUST BE STOPPED!

The cities of the future - Didier Cornille 

Discover how cities around the world are transforming into greener, more innovative, and people-friendly spaces while continuing to develop.

Travel Derbyshire Activity Packs

Travel Derbyshire is transforming bus travel into fun and exciting journeys over the summer!

We know family days out can be pretty hectic, especially during the summer holidays. But getting around by bus shouldn’t be. To help you make the most of your travel time with the little ones, Travel Derbyshire has created a fun-filled activity pack including a great competition for you to take part in (closing 30th September 2025), T&Cs apply. Enjoy it together on your journey and prepare for your adventure filled day ahead!

On board the bus, we invite you to become immersed in Derbyshire mysteries as you embark on your journey. Engage in fun activities and take a fresh look at the world around you to experience all that Derbyshire has to offer.

If/when you have completed the activity pack we'd love to hear your thoughts. Please complete the short survey found on the pack for your chance to win a £50 supermarket voucher! Or scan the QR code above. Scan to access our Feedback survey and share your views once you have completed the pack.

The Activity Packs will be available from mid-July at all libraries.