Libraries for children

In Calderdale, under-16s benefit from no fines and easy instant joining.

• Computer use and Internet access is free.
• All our PCs have USB ports, so you can save your work or bring files you have already made. You can book ahead, just ask at the library, also see: Internet and computing.
• For homework, where there is no loanable source, you can have up to four copies or computer printouts, free.
• We often have authors and artists visit us. Entry to these events is usually free, but there can be a small charge.

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Winter Mini Challenge

Keep the magic of reading going with this free reading challenge! It is an amazing confidence booster.

Challenge your friends and family to complete it over the holidays!

It is simple to take part:

• Read three or more books between 1st December and 20th February;
• add them to your profile (remember to choose your avatar!).

When you reach your reading goal, it will unlock these:

• A limited edition online badge.
• A certificate of achievement to print off and treasure!

Plus, once you complete the Winter Mini Challenge, you will be entered into a prize draw to win great books!

To sign up, visit: Winter Mini Challenge (The Reading Agency).

For under 5s

Bookstart

BookTrust offers a free Bookstart Baby Pack to every baby aged 0 to 12 months.

Your health visitor or another health professional should give you this. It will help you share stories, rhymes and songs together.

Bookstart Baby Pack

Every baby gets a free Bookstart Baby Pack, which has:

• An engaging book chosen by experts, such as health visitors and librarians.
• A colourful finger puppet.
• A fun leaflet for parents and carers about the benefits of sharing rhymes and stories with babies.

Bookstart Family Hub

Here you will find:

• Hints and tips on how you can have fun sharing stories with your child.
• Details about BookTrust's Early Years offers.
• More things to do and books they recommend to continue your reading adventure.

For more about BookTrust, visit: BookTrust.

Booktrust Storytime

This is an exciting library experience for families. It offers a fun, free and easy way to entertain under fives at the library.

To see what books we will read at our Storytots, please visit: Booktrust Storytime.

Count Me In 1, 2, 3

This inspires learning about numbers through picture books. There are three packs and each has a book, games and things to do that are fun.

Families can borrow these packs from all our libraries.

For more details, contact our Early Years librarian:

• Email: fran.rushworth@calderdale.gov.uk
• Phone: (01422) 392619.

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Storytots

Free storytelling sessions for children aged 2 - 4 years (during term time)

Stories, songs and crafts suitable for pre-school children. Weekly sessions run at:

• Akroyd Library on Thursdays at 11am.
• Elland Library on Fridays at 11.15am.
• King Cross Library on Tuesdays at 10.30am.
• Hebden Bridge Library on Mondays at 10.30am.
• Sowerby Bridge Library on Fridays at 10.30am.
• Brighouse Library on Tuesdays at 11am.
• Northowram Library on Tuesdays at 2pm.
• Halifax Central Library on Wednesdays at 10.30am.

For more details, please email: reading@calderdale.gov.uk.

To book your place, visit: Calderdale Libraries (TicketSource).

Baby Bounce and Rhyme

Songs and rhymes are the best way to introduce the magical world of language and literature.

Come along to our free Baby Bounce and Rhymes for 30 minutes of songs and rhymes.

You and your baby will explore traditional songs and rhymes and add new ones to your repertoire.

• King Cross Library on Mondays at 10.30am.
• Brighouse Library on Tuesdays at 10.10am.
• Hebden Bridge Library on Wednesdays at 10.30am.
• Halifax Central Library on Thursdays at 11.15am.
• Elland Library on Fridays at 10.30am.

Toddler Bounce and Rhyme

Fun with songs and rhymes for toddlers and their grown ups.

• Hebden Bridge Library on Wednesdays at 11.15am.
• Halifax Central Library on Thursdays at 10.15am.

These are free drop in sessions, no need to book.

For more about events at our libraries, see: Library events.

Mini Playboxes

These are packed with fun and engaging self serve activities for children under five and their families.

Each box is full of open ended activities that can be recreated with objects at home. They support early speech and language, numeracy skills and creative play.

Families love them! This is what some people said about them:

"My little one loves the playbox. She gets so excited when it appears. We've played games at home inspired by the things in the playbox. I had to buy us some wooden bobbins because we have so much fun racing them!"

"We really like making dens using the airer. It's inspired us to make dens at home to using our really big airer and throws from the sofa."

Find a playbox in these libraries:

• Brighouse Library.
• Elland Library.
• Mixenden Library.
• Todmorden Library.

Thank you to NHP family Hubs for kindly funding our latest mini playboxes at Elland, Brighouse and Mixenden Libraries.

SEND Sensory Story times

Project 52 will join us to host more inclusive story times. These include a range of sensory experiences and are filled with music, dance, singing, communication and resources.

Sessions are suitable for SEND children and their families.

Where and when

• Halifax Central Library every Saturday in January at 10.30am.

How to book

• Please visit: Calderdale Libraries (TicketSource).

For primary age children

Reading Sparks

Fun things to do to get children excited about science. You can borrow an activity bag and explore the experiments inside.

Reading Sparks brings together science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) themes with creative arts and reading.

LOTE4Kids

This is a digital collection of picture books (ebooks and audiobooks) in a range of languages.

They encourage critical thinking, improve memory retention and make learning engaging and enjoyable.

For more about this, please see: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eMagazines and eComics.

Comics Plus

This offers thousands of comics, graphic novels and manga titles to readers online.

• You can access it with a smartphone, tablet or web browser.
• You can download comics to more than one devices.
• There is never a wait to read any titles.

For access, log in to: Library Pass.

uLibrary Book Clubs

Bookworms Book Club for children.

This is an audiobook club for younger listeners that is free to use.

To access it, please see: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eMagazines and eComics.

Useful web links

• Tiny Happy People (BBC).
• HomeTime (BookTrust).
• Bitesize (BBC).
• Cbeebies stories (BBC).
• Teachers, schools and early years (National Literacy Trust).
• 50 Things to Do Before You're Five in Calderdale.
• I CAN.
• Tate Kids.
• Today on HomeTime (BookTrust).
• Learn and play (Words for Life).
• NewsWise (National Literacy Trust).

Tonie Boxes

Tonie boxes are a great way of sharing audio stories with children of all ages. A child friendly and robust device. Simply add the story character onto the box and it will read aloud.

We have a number of Tonie Box Bundles available to borrow. The bundle includes a story character and 2 Creative Tonies with recorded stories to listen to.

In addition to the boxes, we also have a wide range of Tonie characters to borrow.

To reserve a Tonie Box, visit: Calderdale Libraries or contact your local branch for more information.

For teens

Teen Book Club

• King Cross Library on the first and third Monday of the month at 3.45pm.
• Brighouse Library on the second and fourth Monday of the month at 3.45pm.

For home educated children

Join our mailing list to find out about activities and events in our libraries for you.

For more details, please email: angharad.hoult@calderdale.gov.uk.

For schools

Class visits

You can arrange a class visit to any of our libraries. These can be regular events or one-off sessions.

We have a range of options to promote reading for pleasure amongst your pupils, such as:

• story times;
• library activities;
• and the chance to borrow books.

Assemblies

• 2026 Year of Reading Assembly.

  An assembly that promotes reading for pleasure and also our local libraries. These can be delivered in your school by our reading and development team. For more details, please email: angharad.hoult@calderdale.gov.uk.

• Summer Reading Challenge Assemblies (June/July).

Schools Readers Groups

Borrow sets of children's fiction books free of charge. Perfect if you want to setup your own reading groups/clubs.

Library and Local Studies Visit

Perfect for a WW2 topic!

Come to the Central Library and Archives for a class visit to look at artefacts in Local Studies. Also, the chance to explore a range of books linked to the topic that children can borrow.

For more details, email: reading@calderdale.gov.uk.

Calderdale Libraries Picture Book of the Year (February/March)

Aimed at Year 1 children:

• Help us to choose the best picture book of the year.
• Taking part includes interactive story times in your school, certificates and books for your library.

2025 Shortlisted Picture Books

2025 Winner

Catherine Emmett's Rainbow Flamingo.

2026

Would your school like to take part in 2026? We will send an invitation to all primary schools in January with details on how to take part.

For more details, please email: reading@calderdale.gov.uk.

Author events

We host a number of author events through the year. Please contact the team to find out how your school can take part.

Contact us

The Reading and Development Team:

• Email: reading@calderdale.gov.uk.
• Phone: (01422) 392619.