Keep the kids busy this summer season with the local libraries' challenges.

Tauranga City Libraries and Western Bay of Plenty District Libraries are both running reading challenges to keep the kids entertained for the upcoming school holidays.

Tauranga City Libraries will run their annual Kia Kaha te Pānui Reading Challenge, with awesome prizes up for grabs, free craft activities, and the return of the programme's legendary finale parties.

Tauranga City Council's children and teens programme specialist Lauren Jones says the challenge is all about participants having fun and feeling proud of achieving their reading goals.

'We're excited to be using the free app Beanstack this year,” says Lauren.

'Beanstack provides a really fun and easy way to track your child's reading, plus keep our young readers motivated. The app awards virtual badges to readers throughout the challenge which are kind of like a digital fist-bump to say well done!”

There will be three categories of Kia Kaha te Pānui this year: the Mini Reads for ages zero-four, Summer Reads for ages five-10, and the Teen Reads for ages 11-18.

Kids who complete Kia Kaha te Pānui: Summer Reads also receive an invitation to the finale party at Memorial Park, a prize book to keep, and a certificate.

For the first time ever, the challenge also extends to preschoolers, with the introduction of Kia Kaha te Pānui: Mini Reads. Mini Reads is a simplified version of the school-aged challenge, designed to include even the littlest of children in the fun.

Western Bay of Plenty District Libraries is running its BOB Squad programme until January 23.

BOB Squad is a free take-home reading challenge aimed at primary school-aged tamariki with this year's theme being ‘Sonic Sleuths', putting a sound and music twist on encouraging children to grow their reading skills.

Council's customer services manager Valeta Duncan says BOB Squad is a much-loved feature of the libraries summer schedule.

'We're looking forward to seeing local tamariki getting creative with the musical theme this year – they'll be having so much fun they won't even know that they're learning!”

Participants can collect a booklet at their local WBOP library, where they'll find 14 interactive missions to complete by January 23. Complete at least one mission or three mini missions to get an invite to one of the libraries' big finale parties.

BOB Squad missions include making a musical instrument, going on a sound hunt, creating sound effects, vibrations, and soundwaves plus more!

The booklet also includes 25 mini missions and comes with a reading log that has checkboxes for every 10 minutes spent reading.

Get your missions stamped at the library by January 23 and pick up your invitation to the finale party at either Te Puke (January 26) or Ōmokoroa Library (January 25).

Check out the Teen Summer Reading Challenge – Prezzy cards. This one is designed for Years 7-13, so get reading and rating!

Check out the Tauranga City Libraries and Western Bay of Plenty District Libraries websites for more information.