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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Downtown Iowa City launches StoryWalk to promote reading and exercise
New April program allows children and families to read two different stories throughout downtown Iowa City
IOWA CITY — The Iowa City Downtown District announces a new interactive Spring event, the Downtown Iowa City StoryWalk®. For the month of April, kids and families are invited to take a walk throughout downtown and the Northside neighborhood to read and interactive with stories featured in storefront windows.
The Downtown Iowa City StoryWalk features two different books, one in downtown and one in the Northside neighborhood. Each route features a different book for kids to read along the way. Participating locations will have the book open and displayed in their front windows so attendees can safely read the pages from outside.
The downtown story hosts 18 stops and features the book "We Are Water Protectors," an award-winning children's book written by Carole Lindstrom. The Northside neighborhood book features "Some Dinosaurs are Small," written by Charlotte Voake, with 12 stops. Both books are for reading levels 7-12 years old and were selected by Prairie Lights Books, where they are available to purchase. Each route is approximately 1 mile long, starting at the Iowa City Public Library, each route should take about 30 minutes to complete.
Starting at the Iowa City Public Library, participants can pick up a map detailing each participating shop, pages, and the correct path to follow. The map also can be downloaded and printed at home. The Downtown Iowa City StoryWalk is interactive with the map, including fill-in-the-blanks for kids to find the missing words or items that can be found on pages at each location. After completing the route, kids can turn in their map at the end locations (Glassando or John's Grocery) for a chance to win a copy of one of the books and a prize.
As a way to help promote reading and exercise, the StoryWalk® Project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vt. It was developed in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg Hubbard Library. Ferguson offers the StoryWalk® concept for other communities to use and mentioned that it is becoming more and more popular. More than 1,000 libraries across the nation have introduced the event to their community within the last year.
"We Are Water Protectors" and "Some Dinosaurs are Small" will be the books featured in the new Downtown Iowa City StoryWalk program. (Iowa City)
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