A new way to read may be coming to Windjammer Park

Windjammer Park may be getting a new story once construction is completed.

Mary Campbell, manager of the Oak Harbor Library, wants to add StoryWalk to the city’s waterfront park.

A StoryWalk is a series of posts topped with pages of a picture book that children and their caregivers can read as they walk along a trail.

Campbell said its a great way for children to be outdoors and encourage literacy.

“They’re for preschoolers and meant to be read aloud — pictures that will tell a story with brightly colored pictures and minimal text… [and have] any kind of literacy activity like counting, rhyming, music, words and vocabulary,” she said.

She said there would be 15-18 signs that would be low to the ground for preschoolers to read. The books would changed once a month and Campbell said she hopes to feature local authors.

The StoryWalk would cost about $5,000, according to Campbell. The City of Oak Harbor would pay for the posts to be put in and the library would buy the signs. The Friends of the Library would donate the books. Campbell said she hopes that partners in the community would sponsor a sign to help offset costs.

Jane Lopez-Santillana, assistant managing librarian, said she thought it would help children and their families see literacy in a new way.

“Books don’t have to be something only done sitting down at home,” she said.

Lopez-Santillana said that the library staff will choose stories that will encourage children to think about the environment as they read them outside.

Campbell proposed the idea to the Park Board on Monday, July 9.