Fall is here, and the weather is cooling down. Perhaps you are spending time outdoors with your family, trying to savor the moderate temperatures and evening daylight before we descend into winter. If only there was a way to combine literacy and your outdoor adventures…
Good news! We have a great way for you to enjoy the outdoors and practice early literacy with your family: the Community StoryWalks®! StoryWalks® exist all over the country as a way to combine literacy and spending time in the outdoors. At the Handley Library Regional Library System we offer four public StoryWalks®: Handley Library Reading Garden, Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum rooftop, Blandy Experimental Farm, and Bowman Library lake trail. We also provide a StoryWalk® to Garland Quarles Elementary School. You can read more about these locations here.
What exactly is a StoryWalk®? To make one, we deconstruct two copies of the book, and reconstruct them into panels holding two pages each. Those pages will be laminated, mounted on a board, and placed in a sign holder in order along the route. Each book that we choose is bilingual, so the StoryWalk® is available to read in both English and Spanish. At the Handley StoryWalks® (Handley Reading Garden, Discovery Museum rooftop and Quarles Elementary) to make the experience even more interactive, we have added questions to each panel. These questions encourage you to discuss the story with your little, or engage you in a fun activity like hopping, running, or dancing to the next panel. The questions are also written in both English and Spanish. We have also included a QR code on each page that has a wonderful and engaging reading of both the story and the question in English and Spanish, so you can scan and have your family listen as you walk.
StoryWalks® are seasonal- we change them approximately four times a year. You can expect a new Storywalk in January, March, July, and October. In October 2025, Happy Within by Marisa Taylor was installed at the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum, and Waiting on the Biblioburro by Monica Brown was installed in the Handley Reading Garden. You can ask staff at both locations for help finding the StoryWalks®!
Well, what are you waiting for?! Head to your nearest Community StoryWalk® to combine literacy and movement now!
