Children’s tale to be told on walk through museum

Boulder City Library and the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum have partnered to promote literacy for children and adults through StoryWalk.

StoryWalk invites participants to read a story presented on laminated pages from a children’s book attached to wooden stakes as they walk along an outdoor path.

“We decided to do this program to promote literacy, family bonding and exploration of our fantastic community,” said Jessica Jones, head of youth services at the library.

The featured story will be “Stellaluna” by Janell Cannon. Jones said it was chosen by a staff member because bats are something children will be familiar with seeing in the area. The library, however, is not holding the reading walk outside. The laminated pages of the story will be inside the museum, 1305 Arizona St.

“For this StoryWalk, as children of all ages walk into the museum they will be greeted by the beginning of the story and an activity sheet,” Jones said. “They will follow the story through the museum into the auditorium. As they read the story, they will be learning the differences between bats and birds. Once they have completed the story and their activity sheet, they can bring it back to the library for a prize from the treasure chest.”

Jones said they decided to hold this first one at the museum because Tiane Marie, development officer/collections technician for the museum, has been a great partner for the library.

“We are going on a year and a half of many projects we have done together and this is just another one for the books,” said Marie. “We love having this partnership with our local library and are open to many more projects to come.”

The library and museum are installing the StoryWalk Friday, Oct.9. It will continue for a month.

“If the StoryWalk is something the Boulder City community enjoys, we would love to expand it and do additional stories in the future,” Jones said.

StoryWalk was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vermont, and was developed in collaboration with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library.

Funds for this project came from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, which is administered by the Nevada State Library, archives and public records.

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.