Manawatū District Libraries unveils StoryWalk at Mt Less Reserve

Children's author Juliette MacIver attended the unveiling of StoryWalk at Mt Lees Reserve last Friday. Photo / Supplied

Manawatū District Libraries has been working with Gecko Press and children’s author Juliette MacIver to bring the StoryWalk concept to Mt Lees Reserve in time for summer.

StoryWalk is a fun and interactive way for children and adults to engage with an outdoor environment, while reading pages of a book that are scattered around a location. The StoryWalk Project was created by American Anne Ferguson and developed in collaboration with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library.

The concept took off in New Zealand during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Libraries throughout the country put up temporary signs with book pages laminated to them for people to read on their walks.

MacIver’s book The Grizzled Grist Does Not Exist is about a school trip to the hills that goes awry.

The signs at Mt Lees Reserve have the pages of The Grizzled Grist replicated on them with the permission of Gecko Press and will be a semi-permanent feature, with the ability to move them elsewhere in the future. It’s the first of its kind in the Manawatū-Whanganui region.

”Juliette came and did a reading of the book at the Coach House Museum back in August as part of the Story Lines Story Tour and the kids who attended absolutely loved the story,” library programmes leader Marie Willis says.

“We asked if she would be keen to be involved with the StoryWalk concept and she was right on board, so it’s been a pretty quick process.”

Mt Lees was seen as the perfect location for a StoryWalk given some of the developments that are happening at the reserve, including the installation of a new adventure area.

“We saw an opportunity to help enhance literacy and add a fun element to it, and what better way than to read a story as you walk through the reserve, plus you may find a little surprise along the way,” Willis says.

Gecko Press founder Julia Marshall says she loves the idea of bringing The Grizzled Grist Does Not Exist into the outdoors, both because it really relates to the book, and also because it encourages children to discover the fun of reading in a way that is novel and child-centred.

“Hopefully they will come back to the library to read it again!”

• Mt Lees Reserve is at 199 Ngaio Rd, Halcombe.