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What Is Storywalk®?
StoryWalk® is a fun and innovative way for people of all ages to exercise their bodies, as well as their minds. Take a leisurely stroll on a path and read a story while getting some fresh air! Findlay's original StoryWalk® is located in beautiful Riverside Park. The path leads you clockwise under a canopy of tall trees starting at the bandshell as the story continues through the park and ends at the Waterfalls Pavilion. The second StoryWalk® was installed in 2021 at the Benton Ridge Park, and the third in 2022 at the Findlay City Schools Preschool. The StoryWalk® at the Findlay City Schools Preschool was made possible by a grant from the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), awarded by the State Library of Ohio.
A special thank you to the Hancock County Park District and the City of Findlay for installing StoryWalk® at Riverside Park, and to Veer Mehta for coordinating and completing the installation of the Findlay City Schools Preschool StoryWalk® as his Eagle Scout project.
StoryWalk® was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vermont, and developed in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. For more information, please call us at 419-422-1712.
Please share photos of your wonderful trips to our StoryWalk® locations with us at facebook.com/fhcpl.
Book For April at Riverside Park, Findlay
Cesaria Feels the Beat
by Denise Rosario Adusei
In this powerful and inspiring picture book, a deaf girl stands up for herself and takes off her shoes while dancing at her Carnival performance so she can feel the music through her bare feet.
Cesaria is going to perform for the seaside Carnival. She skips past the beach barefoot, dressed in her favorite peacock leotard. But when her dance director tells her she must put on her shoes to go on stage, Cesaria signs, “Peacocks don’t wear shoes!” You see, Cesaria hears the music through the soles of her feet, but no one seems to understand… …That is, until all the dancers take off their shoes, and learn to feel the music, just like Cesaria. Cesaria Feels the Beat is a lyrical and heartfelt story about deafness, community, and Carnival.
Book For April at Findlay City Schools Preschool
Here are the Seeds
by JaNay Brown-Wood
Author and poet JaNay Brown-Wood’s cumulative tale, similar to The House That Jack Built, starts promisingly: ”Here are the seeds that we will sow to help our garden grow.“ But as time passes, the children quickly learn that things rarely go as planned in the garden. Plants will droop without enough sun and wilt without enough water. Suddenly, ”OH NO!“ becomes the children’s repeated refrain. Eventually, the pair come to see that nature itself provides everything a magnificent garden needs to flourish!
This engaging read-aloud doubles as a child-friendly lesson on what plants need in order to grow. Olivia Amoah’s vivid artwork brings the story to life, particularly on the spreads featuring the refrain (”OH NO!“), where readers can look at the illustrations to try to figure out what went wrong in the garden. The story covers the key elements of what makes a healthy garden, such as soil, sun, bugs, water, mushrooms and worms - and shows how balance is necessary for plants to survive. The back matter includes brief explanations of each of these key elements. This picture book offers excellent life science curriculum connections to the needs of living things, growth and changes in plants and plant life cycles.
Book For April at Benton Ridge Park
Amara's Farm
by JaNay Brown-Wood
Amara is hosting a potluck for friends on her farm, and she needs help finding her pumpkins to serve a tasty dish. What do we know about pumpkins? They're large, round, and orange—and, wait a minute, is that a pumpkin? No, that's an apple. Where, oh, where could those pumpkins be? Can you help Amara find them in time for her potluck?
The first title in the Where in the Garden? picture book series stars Amara, a young girl who explores the crops growing on her family's intergenerational farm. Playful text guides young readers to hunt for visual clues and compare and contrast the unique characteristics of pumpkins against okra, cauliflower, eggplant, and other produce that grows on Amara's farm.
Artist Samara Hardy brings this multi-layered story to life with vivid, cheerful illustrations created from layers of hand painted ink and watercolor texture. Back matter includes a yummy molasses pumpkin bread recipe for little chefs and their adult helpers to try together.