New Page – StoryWalk Resources!

You may have noticed a new menu item above, StoryWalk Resources. I recently volunteered with a colleague at my library (also named Emily, incidentally) to take on the responsibility of our two StoryWalk paths. One is at a local park and a second one winds around our building.

A StoryWalk is an idea from librarian Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and has developed with the help of Rachel Senechal, formerly of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. A picture book is displayed, page spread by page spread, along a walking or nature path. Those walking along the path can read the book as they go. Some parks and libraries buy two copies of the book and cut the pages to display. Others get special permission from the publisher to reproduce the book digitally and print it. Both ways work with copyright law to provide the story to the public legally.

I’ve visited StoryWalks in other communities and have always been impressed by those that incorporate fun questions, prompts for movement, and literacy tips in addition to the pages of the book. It’s an opportunity to model dialogic reading to caregivers, as well as make the experience more engaging and interactive. I knew that I wanted to add these prompts to our signs going forward.

One StoryWalk had already been changed recently, but it was time to update the one at the library. The other Emily and I worked to think about prompts for each page spread of our selected book, A Way With Wild Things by Larissa Theule and Sara Palacios. We tried to cover the Early Literacy Practices promoted by Every Child Ready to Read: Talk, Sing, Read, Play, and Write (we didn’t find a great spot for Write this time, but it’s definitely in the cards for future books). We also gave prompts for movement and some that promoted math and social emotional learning.

We ended up not using all of the prompts we came up with, since this StoryWalk only has 10 posts. Several page spreads were combined (thankfully each post has a pretty big display area.) Figuring out how to print and format all of our prompts was another challenge (how long are they? How wide can they be? What font size is legible?!) All in all, it took some time and effort to get it all together. If you are the “minder” of your StoryWalk, I’m sure you know exactly what I mean.

I started to wonder – what would make this easier? And how can I maximize the usefulness of the time and work we’ve put in? Wouldn’t it be cool if someone else could use the work I’ve done?

An idea hatched. Surely other librarians are going to the work of writing engaging and enriching prompts for their StoryWalks (I’ve seen them!) Perhaps if we pooled our resources, it would make it easier for everyone going forward. A database of books that work well for StoryWalks, and the additional written materials to go along.

Of course, no one has to use prompts found here verbatim. They can be a jumping off point, an inspiration. Maybe you’ve got ideas for every page in the book except one and are stumped – looking at others’ ideas can fill in. Every community is different and it’s great to cater to yours.

So in launching the webpage there’s only our original document available as of this writing. It looks mighty lonely there. If you have done the work on other books and would be willing to submit them, I’d love to add your contribution. Even if you have different prompts for a book that’s already listed, I’ll take them! Each page spread may soon have a bullet point list of options to choose from.

Happy StoryWalking, everyone!