A LOCAL girl has read as many as 50 books in less than a year as part of a reading challenge. 

Six-year-old Eliza, from Crediton, received her Secret Book Quest certificate from First Assistant Beth Vaughan at Crediton Library on Monday, June 10. 

The Secret Book Quest involves reading a set number of books, collecting stickers and deciphering a code. 

Eliza, whose teachers say her reading proficiency has much improved thanks to the challenge, likes books about unicorns and those by author Julia Donaldson.  

Her other hobbies include swimming and gymnastics.  

Next, she plans to read 50 more books to reach a total of 100. 

If your child is a burgeoning bookworm, they can sign up to the Secret Book Quest at their local library for free.  

It is described as “an exciting reading challenge for children ages five and up”, and features characters Pip, Zena and Libro the cat, created by illustrator Emily Fox, embarking on a unique reading adventure through 10 themed zones.  

Portals connect each zone, and each portal has space for a sticker which can be collected after every five books read. The goal is to read 50 books to complete the initial challenge, but participants can go beyond and read many more books. 

Children will get their very own Secret Book Quest journal, the first sticker in their collection and a bookmark to record the secret codes for the new digital zone when they sign up. 

You can find out more online here: https://www.tsbq.co.uk/