DIXFIELD — Two fourth-grade classes at Dirigo Elementary School in Peru celebrated the end of their 40 Book Challenge at the Ludden Memorial Library with a tour and outdoor reading.

Fourth-grade teacher Kristi Holmquist said she got the idea for a reading challenge from the Internet.

“Another fourth-grade teacher, Erin Deprey, was also instrumental in getting this organized,” Holmquist said. “She’s been on maternity leave, so her long-term substitute teacher, Kayla Schuster, has stepped up and helped.

“The idea is to challenge the students to read at least 40 books throughout the school year,” Holmquist said. “This year, I didn’t find out about it until later in the year, so we only had a couple of months to do the 40 books. The requirements weren’t as strict this time around. We wanted the kids to read at least one chapter book, and the rest could be picture books or magazines.

“We hope to up the ante next year, and require the students to read multiple chapter books, possibly from different genres,” she said.

As part of the celebration, Holmquist said students were given a tour of the Ludden Memorial Library and students who did not already have a library card were issued one.

“The students were allowed to take out a couple of books today,” Holmquist said, “and if they prove themselves responsible with them, they’ll be allowed to take out more in the future.”

Fourth-grade student Craig Holmquist said he considers his effort a personal success.

“I only read 14 books, but that was because I read chapter books instead of picture books,” Holmquist said.

Ginger Burnham said she has always liked to read, especially mysteries.

She chose to check out “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” from the library.

Josiah Kahkonen said he found the reading challenge “very fun,” and he’s looking forward to participating in similar challenges.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com