The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Library dedicates Storybook Walk
The Storybook Walk is a pathway lined with pages connecting the library and Read House.
Mentor Public Library Main Branch dedicated its Storybook Walk during a ceremony held outside the library on May 24.
The Storybook Walk, which honors Carol Mononan, former president of the Friends of the Library, is a pathway lined with pages from a children’s book connecting the library and the Read House.
Mononan, who died last year, is described by Jason Lea as a phenomenal person.
Lea, Communications Outreach coordinator for the library, believes you can tell more about a person from what they do in their spare time than what they are paid to do.
“She volunteered with us for years,” Lea said. “It’s a pleasure to do something in her honor. It’s necessary to do something like this for someone who gave so much to us.”
Lea said they wanted to work something into the library to get more people in to read and they wanted to hold the dedication on a day when people would be at the library, so the dedication was held prior to the Summer Reading Program kick-off event.
The ceremony was attended by library board members and staff along with members of the public, and Sen. John Eklund, R-Munson Township.
Cheryl Kuonen, director of the Mentor Public Library, said Mononan was a vocal supporter of the library and the Friends of the Library and she is missed deeply.
“Carol (Mononan) was passionate about supporting the library and fulfilling the needs of our community,” Kuonen said. “She gave of her free time, and the only payment she received were the smiles on people’s faces when they came to the library.”
Liza Volk, who was Mononan’s neighbor for 40 years, spoke at the dedication, saying that the library doing this is just acknowledging just how much she really gave.
“She spent hours helping with the library. I’m just really glad that they have acknowledged the amount of work that she has done and that she will be remembered.” Volk said
Eklund described the Storybook Walk as great and said he was thinking of his young grandchildren and what they would experience coming through something like that.
“It’s an opportunity to be exposed to books outside of what they usually are which is on the couch, in bed, in a chair someplace. I think they would get absolutely a tremendous kick out of this,” Eklund said. “It’s a great way to reemphasize to young people in particular... the wonders of reading and the values of reading.”
Eklund noted the fact that it has been dedicated to Mononan’s name is uplifting to him, and he describes Mononan as singular citizen.
“To recognize her in this way not only makes everybody associated with the library feel good but its serves as an example to others, that if your heart is in the task and when you are dedicated to your community good things come from it,” Eklund said. “It will be an everlasting memory and I think it should be very uplifting to the community and it’s certainly uplifting to me and I applaud the library for everything they do for Mentor.”
The Storybook Walk will be open year round, and the stories will change throughout the year, Kuonen said.
Hanna Schauer, 6, of Mayfield, said she thought the Storybook Walk was amazing.
According to her mother Kaleena, the book currently featured, “Chicka Chicka Boom,” was Hannah’s favorite story when she was younger.