Let Imaginations Bloom: Spotify Supports The Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge 2025

This summer, The Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge invites children across the UK to step into the Story Garden – a celebration of nature, imagination, and adventure designed to help children grow their love of reading. 

In a landmark move to widen access, Spotify and a group of leading publishers have joined forces to make a curated selection of Summer Reading Challenge audiobooks available for free to all! Families across the country can now listen to selected titles from the official Summer Reading Challenge booklist via a special playlist on Spotify, with no subscription required. 

Duncan Bruce, Director of Partnerships & Licensing at Spotify said: “Many in the Audiobooks team at Spotify grew up doing the Summer Reading Challenge, so it’s an initiative close to our hearts. Audiobooks are a powerful way to help children discover the joy of books in ways that work for them – whether at bedtime, in the car, or curled up in the garden. We’re proud to support the Summer Reading Challenge’s mission to spark a lifelong love of books in every child, regardless of background, ability, or learning style.” 

Karen Napier MBE, CEO, The Reading Agency said: “This partnership with Spotify helps us bring the Summer Reading Challenge to even more families, in ways that are flexible, accessible, and inclusive. It supports our core belief that everyone deserves the opportunity to become a reader – and that stories should be available to children in the formats that work for them.” 

Now in its 26th year, the Summer Reading Challenge is the UK’s biggest free reading-for-pleasure initiative for children. In 2024, it reached nearly 600,000 children and generated more than 13 million library book loans. This year’s theme, Story Garden – Adventures in Nature and the Great Outdoors, encourages children to explore magical new worlds while building their confidence, curiosity, and reading skills. 

With only 1 in 3 children today reading for pleasure, inclusive approaches to reading are more important than ever. Audiobooks can play a vital role in literacy development – especially for children who are neurodiverse, visually impaired, or simply prefer to listen. 

Audiobooks available on Spotify: 

• Hamza’s Wild World – Hamza Yassin, illustrated by Louise Forshaw (Macmillan Children’s Books)  
• Rabbit & Bear: The Lake is Fake – Julian Gough and Jim Field (Hachette – Hodder Children’s Books)  
• Robin Hood Aged 10 3/4 – Ben Miller, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)  
• Angel of Grasmere – Tom Palmer (Barrington Stoke)  
• Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit – Clare Harlow, illustrated by Karl James Mountford (Penguin Random House)  
• Superhero Plants – Chris Packham, illustrated by Jake Williams (Farshore – Redshed)  
• Green Kingdom – Cornelia Funke and Tammi Hartung, illustrated by Melissa Castrillón (DK Children’s)  
• Marnie Midnight and the Moon Mystery – Laura Ellen Anderson (Farshore)  
• Hedgewitch -Skye McKenna, illustrated Tomislav Tomic (Hachette Children’s – Welbeck Children’s Books)  
• Land of the Last Wildcat – Lui Sit, illustrated by David Dean (Macmillan Children’s Books)  
• Super Happy Magic Forest and the Distant Desert – Matty Long (Oxford University Press)  
• Magicalia: Race of Wonders – Jennifer Bell (Walker Books)  
• The Whisperwicks: The Labyrinth of Lost & Found – Jordan Lees, illustrated by Vivienne To (Penguin Random House)  
• Wildlands – Brogen Murphy (Penguin Random House)  
• Bigfoot and the Wild Boys – Jenny Pearson, illustrated by Aleksei Bitskoff (Barrington Stoke)  
• Finding Hope – Nicola Baker (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)  
• Shipwrecked – Jenny Pearson, illustrated by Nick East (Usborne)  

Families can access the audiobook playlist here or by searching “Summer Reading Challenge” on Spotify.

To find out how to sign up and explore more digital rewards and activities, visit summerreadingchallenge.org.uk. 

Happy listening!