Children have been converging on Abingdon Library for this year’s summer reading challenge. This year’s challenge is called Mischief Makers and features Dennis the Menace and other characters from the Beano. There are books to read, a treasure map to solve, and lots of stickers.

If you are over 12 and too old for that challenge then you can take part in the adult challenge and recommend two books on a postcard and be entered for the prize draw. This is just one of many cards on display at the library.

I am currently reading Empire of the Sun by J G Ballard – from the library. It follows Jim whose life, with his parents in the European quarter of Shanghai, is shattered by the second world war. They are separated and the book follows Jim’s struggle to survive. He begins by scavenging food from the houses in the street where he lived. When that supply runs out he tries to hand himself to the Japanese, seeking the relative safety of an internment camp … An epic!