229 participants in the Bocholt Summer Reading Club

This year's summer reading club organised by Bocholt Municipal Library drew to a close on Friday 25 September 2026 with an 'Oskar' gala at the Futura Media Centre. A total of 229 children and adults took part and borrowed 2,074 items during the campaign. At the closing event, twelve Oscars were awarded for outstanding achievements and creative contributions.

Reading, getting creative and planning the holidays together: the Bocholt Municipal Library's Summer Reading Club once again offered a varied programme this year. As well as reading and reviewing books, participants were able to put their own ideas into practice and take part in numerous events.

""It's particularly wonderful that the Summer Reading Club brings together children, families, schools and creative activities, thereby making the promotion of reading a tangible experience in many different ways,"" explains Claudia Alders from Bocholt Municipal Library, ""The Oskar Gala is a special finale every year because it celebrates not only the number of books read, but also creativity, team spirit and the joy of taking part.""

A total of 27 events were on the programme during the holidays. These included, amongst other things, a cinema afternoon, a Mario Kart tournament, designing bags and picture frames, and programming a banana piano. The programme was complemented by a writing workshop with the author Akram El-Bahay, as well as building an insect hotel with nature educator Marcel Schaffeld from MASI Adventures and a visit to an escape room at Mission House Bocholt.

The Oskar Gala at the Futura in the Media Centre marked the festive conclusion. Awards were presented for, amongst other things, particularly diligent reading and participation, creative reading boxes and logbooks, book covers and book faces, as well as for stories, reviews and contributions in the field of poetry.

This year's School Oskar was awarded to the Ludgerus Primary School Group. Twenty-seven children from the school had taken part in the summer reading club. The award was accepted by Headteacher Sabine Koopmann together with the school's Book Club. The School Oscar and the Honorary Oscar were presented by First Deputy Mayor Gudrun Koppers. Following the awards ceremony, author Lisa Engels provided an entertaining finale with a reading from her book "Nelson Schreck%$. In the book, a ghost pupil has to find his feet in the human world. The audience were actively involved in the story and contributed the appropriate sounds to the action.

The Summer Reading Club was organised with financial support from the Stadtsparkasse Bocholt and funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.