Enjoy Reading On A StoryWalk

GEORGETOWN – You can now walk and read at Georgetown Peabody Library.
Along with four reading benches honoring former library staff and major supporters, the town’s Highway Department has installed 19 metal reading stations as part of a StoryWalk on the side lawn of the library.
Currently, the StoryWalk is featuring Maggie Van Galen and Dr. Amy Wheaden’s King Takes a Bath. King and Ben show the joys of bathing in the story.
An illustrated children’s book is taken apart and displayed page by page along a walking route as part of a StoryWalk.
In collaboration with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT, developed the idea.
While trying to promote reading among children during the Covid Pandemic, Cathy Dewitt, the children’s librarian at Georgetown Peabody Library, 2 Maple St., worked with Ferguson.
Initially, Sarah Cognata, library director, tried using stakes to display the books, but that didn’t work well in winter. Georgetown Cultural Council grants, donations raised on Giving Tuesday and in-kind help from the highway department enabled metal and plastic stations to be placed on the side lawn of the library.
The StoryWalk, which cost $6,000, was unveiled Saturday by the staff and Friends that brought four authors — Van Galen, Paul Janson, Dyan deNapoli and Donna Seim.