The pressure is on for parents to get their children reading over the summer. Schools are eager, sending children home for the holidays with suggested reading lists and instructions to read “at least three books”.

And last week David Lammy, the libraries minister, launched the Summer Reading Challenge, a promotion that challenges children to read six books over the vacation. Giveaway paper pirate hats and lots of what-books-would-suit-me? quizzes add to the experience. Last year 300,000 children read six books under a similar scheme, earning a certificate.

But isn’t it hard to persuade children to read a set number of books in the holidays? Do parents get locked into cycles of reward and punishment, finding themselves making reading a chore, not a pleasure? How much difference will it really make to your child’s performance at school? Lammy’s own experience suggests that getting your children hooked on reading can make all the difference. He was a black boy from Tottenham, north London, whose father left home when he was 10, leaving his mother to bring up David and three siblings. There were no books in the house, and no peaceful place to do homework.

“There was no reflective space at home,” he says. “We were bought books from WH Smith to help us pass our exams. But the library was a space where I could acquire the confidence that is essential for kids from poorer backgrounds . . . I am an MP because of that resource.”

Lammy would come home from school and go to the library. “I discovered Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Tottenham library. And I absolutely, absolutely got into Huckleberry Finn.”

Later, at 14, with a librarian pointing over his shoulder at a careers guide, he read about being a barrister, and decided this was what he wanted to do. He did. And at 33 he’s in government.

“When I think of the friends I had . . . the ones who used the library went on to do interesting things: Patrick is now a school deputy head; my friend Michael is an actor; Angela became a teacher.”

For those who didn’t use the library he admits: “The reality of the inner city is that crime and prison and mental health and other problems are a familiar story.”

But what if your child says, as one boy did of the library challenge, “The prizes are crap. I don’t want a measly certificate from the local library”? What if he or she would always rather watch a video or play on the computer? John Curzon, of Ealing, west London, says his eight-year-old Jack was told to read at least one book this summer. That doesn’t sound too onerous but “left to his own devices, he might not have done. You do have to read the riot act”.

Curzon feels that reading is not just another form of entertainment. “If they won’t read, they won’t learn. Children, particularly boys, have to be encouraged, cajoled, even expected to read. I have gone to the length of testing Jack on whether he has read a book.” Happily, Jack has knuckled down and enjoyed it.

Harriet Webb, of Islington, north London, has introduced a daily schedule for her nine-year-old daughter Sidonie. “Time is allotted for reading, and for other tasks she has to do, including music practice. We agreed that if she completed her schedule, she was free to do as she pleased the rest of the day. Usually this means watching a video.”

But pressure to read can act as a deterrent. Educational psychologist Alex Griffiths believes in encouraging children to read by listening to them read and talking about what is happening in the story for 10 minutes a day. He says less often is acceptable in holidays.

But he cautions: “If they are doing well at school, don’t force it. You can find ways to make it a relatively pleasant experience. Find a more exciting book. Sit with an arm round them. But if they have something better to do, let them do it. If you have to beat the child, leave it to the school.”

John Clark, from Oxford, whose son Hari is “at the extreme end of what a typical seven-year-old boy is — physical and playful, and not inclined to sit down and read”, reads to him nightly (or his mother Liz does). “The most important thing is self-esteem and confidence,” says Clark. “He won’t have that if we make him feel bad about his reading. We don’t push it with Hari.”

Hari’s sister Jessie, 12, an avid reader, presents another dilemma. She came home with 50 books on her summer reading list, creating a bewildering problem of choice. “What you do is ring up your friends and ask, ‘Have you read any of these?’,” says Clark.

Favourites on the reading lists for older children this summer include Noughts and Crosses, Malorie Blackman’s dark story of racism, and Checkmate, its sequel. Under- 11s are choosing authors such as Jacqueline Wilson and Lemony Snicket as well as Roald Dahl and JK Rowling. Francesca Simon’s Horrid Henry series is also popular.

The library reading challenge does seem to help kickstart reading, especially with younger children, judging by feedback from last year’s scheme. Deborah Gordon, of London, said her four-year-old had “reached an impasse in learning to read: the scheme motivated her to read her first books”.

Though somehow the thought of a four-year-old already being at a impasse only adds to the pressure for the rest of us.