Coming Soon! Story Garden

Story Garden - this year's Summer Reading Challenge is all about adventures in nature and the Great Outdoors! Story Garden will start on Saturday 12th July and you can join in at any time across the summer.

The challenge will be to read six books across the summer holidays and earn yourself a certificate and a medal. Pick up a collector's card from your local library and a set of stickers each time you visit. If you meet the challenge, you can enter our free prize draw.

There will be lots of activities and events at your local library across the summer, so look out for details on our Events page nearer the time.

Summer Reading Challenge Volunteers

If you are 14 years old or over on 1st July 2025, you could be one of our young volunteers and help us deliver the challenge. You can volunteer at most of our libraries and all we ask is that you work for a minimum of 9 hours across the summer and attend a training evening before the start of the challenge. 

For more information, a role description, and how to apply, go to our Volunteering in Libraries page

Scroll down for:

• Recommended booklists
• How to join the library
• Information on regular Children's Activities
• Digital services - eBooks, eAudiobooks and eResources
• Links to our rhymetimes and crafts on YouTube

Joining the library is easy, membership is free, you can join at any age, and you can use your library membership in any Solihull library or to use our online services.

You do not need to live within Solihull to have a Solihull Library membership. Some of our services may have restrictions e.g. only accessible from within a Library or require a Solihull address.

You can join by visiting any of our Libraries with 1 proof of your name and current address for a full library membership. 

If 13 or under, you will need a parent, carer or a responsible adult over 18 in the family to act as guarantor. Guarantors undertake to be responsible for items borrowed, Internet usage and any charges incurred through loss or damage. Guarantors can receive loan reminders before loans are due back as well as after, by email.
If you are between 16 and 17 years old we will accept a student card, letter from your school or college as your ID.

Children and teenagers can borrow up to:
- 10 books (3 week loan)
- 6 CDs (1 week loan)
- 6 children's DVDs (1 week loan)
- 10 Audiobooks (3 week loan)
- 10 eBooks (3 week loan)
- 6 eAudiobooks (3 week loan)

Please check the Events page to see if booking is required as some sites get very busy. Where booking is required this should include a place for all members of your party aged 2 and over, including adults. Sessions below are term-time only unless otherwise stated. Special events are often held during holidays and during the summer, please check our Events page for these.

In addition, the Meet and Play session at The Core Library is an opportunity for young families to meet, relax, chat, play and sing together on Fridays, 10:15-11:15. This session is for families, led by families. Toys are provided and the age group is 0-2 years. Booking is not required for these sessions.

Please visit the Events page for details of these sessions and any special events in libraries. All sessions are term time only unless marked with *.

There are lots of eBooks and eAudiobooks to borrow from the library with our Borrowbox service. There are no charges or fines to pay, just download to your device to read at home or on the go. Titles will even be automatically returned at the end of the loan.  Find out more

Then there are nearly 4000 top-selling eMagazine titles. Again, download and read completely free of charge on your tablet or other device. There are popular magazines on a wide range of subjects, and titles, like The Economist and New Scientist, to support your studies Find out more

Over 7,000 eNewspapers and other magazines from the UK and more than 100 other countries are available free of charge through our eNewspapers subscription. There are over 60 languages covered, perfect to support modern language studies. Newsbank Global Edition includes a fulltext archive of national and international papers including the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and Sun on Sunday not available elsewhere . Find out more

For accurate, fact checked research, we subscribe to major online information resources, such as the Oxford English Dictionary, Theory Test Pro, and Medici.tv: you can use them free of charge, at home, at work, at any time of day or night as well as in the library. Note: a few subscriptions are only accessible from library computers. Find out more