Kids can now enjoy a new way of reading and learning as Overton County has completed a new storybook trail at Livingston City Park.
Library Director Judith Cutright said the storybook trail is part of the Governor’s Literacy Program. It gives parents the chance to walk along with their children and read several boards that tell a story. Cutright said the storybook trail is a unique way to get kids to promote literacy.
“Each page has a question about the story, so it gets them to develop a little bit of critical thinking and reading comprehension, and it’s just, as I said, a great way to get a little bit of exercise.”
Cutright said the county decided ot install the storybook trail near the ball fields as they are a popular site in Livingston. Cutright said the trail has 18 boards and tells a story about dragons who love tacos.
“It is one of our children’s favorite stories here,” Cutright said. ” When we were selected to put a trail here in Livingston, they gave us a choice of titles to choose from, and as I said, the children here love reading about dragons and tacos, so we thought that would be a good book to put in our first story walk.”
Cutright said the story on the trail will be changed out periodically. Cutright said the trail took about two weeks to install. Cutright said what took most of the time was building the boards.
“We wanted something low enough that even the youngest readers could look at the story but tall enough that adults wouldn’t have a big problem reading it,” Cutright said. “Then there was also the consideration of, this was an outside story, so we wanted to make sure the boxes were sealed so that it wouldn’t be destroyed in weather.”
Cutright said an official ribbon-cutting is scheduled for October 16. Cutright said the plan is for the library to take story time kids on the trail.