The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
IMAGINATION LOCATION
Families indulge love of words, moving together at new StoryWalk for reading
You can exercise your mind and body while bonding with the family.
That’s an underlying idea behind a new StoryWalk trail that opened Sept. 20 at Black River Landing in downtown Lorain.
The trail is just under a mile in length.
Its main features are pages of books which are placed in
stands that line the trail and tell a story.
There are 17 stands in all, and the books tend toward the younger reader.
The Lorain book for this month is “The Monster at the end of this Book,” which features the iconic blue monster Grover from the children’s show Sesame Street.
“It’s combining a love of literacy and that exposure of books with exercise.”
— Jennifer Black, a spokesperson for the Lorain Public Library System
Grover actually showed up for the event and read the book along with interested onlookers including Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley.
The StoryTime Trail is a joint collaboration of the Lorain Public Library System and the Lorain Port and Finance Authority.
It’s the fourth such trail of its kind in Lorain County. The library previously opened StoryTime trails in Avon, Columbia Township and North Ridgeville. It cost approximately $5,000 to install.
New titles will appear from May through November.
Books have been said to change lives and save lives.
“Books are uniquely portable
magic,” said the author Stephen King.
That attitude and thought is a driving force behind the trail.
It exposes youngsters to reading, exercise and time
with others.
“The StoryWalks going up through the county are awesome,” said Jennifer Black, a spokesperson for the Lorain Public Library System. “It’s combining a
love of literacy and that exposure of books with exercise. You’re getting out, you’re moving, you’re in the community.”
“We are all about sharing the love of reading,” said Lorain Public Library System Director Anastasia Diamond-Cortez. “The idea of sharing the love of reading while you are active couldn’t be better.”
Diamond-Cortez said the books chosen are meant to be read aloud and almost any literacy level can handle them, too.
Hannah Leonard, age 8, from Lorain attended the event with her mother, Charnie Leonard.
“She loves reading books and thought it would be interesting to have a little walk,” Leonard said of what brought them out to see the new StoryWalk. “It’s pretty interesting.”