Thank you to generous funding from Austin Ed Fund, Austin ISD librarians aim to bring the literary phenomenon, StoryWalk®, to school grounds across our city. We are adapting it for our Austin ISD school communities as a "Story Stroll". Readers will exercise, enrich their minds, and engage with literature as they enjoy picture books outside, walking from page to page. Approximately thirty different installations will rotate among participating campuses during the 2020-21 school year, promoting literacy, community engagement, exercise, and social-emotional health among our citizenry. Librarians will collaborate to create, promote, share, and safely swap Story Stroll books and accompanying literacy-based activities. Our AustinISD Librarians are in the process of creating these unique literacy experiences now!

The project is inspired by the successful work of StoryWalk® creators, Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and Rachel Senechal, of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. AustinISD librarians plan to emulate their project as closely as possible in order to replicate their success. Our version will be called a "Story Stroll" and each one will be an opportunity for students and their families to enjoy reading and movement outdoors, simultaneously. Creating a StoryWalk® involves taking apart a picture book, laminating pages with heavy-duty weatherproof lamination, and attaching the laminated picture book pages to stakes or to a fence, placed about forty paces apart, outside, so children and families can enjoy the books in an outdoor setting.