Moms Create 'PopUp Storywalk' Project To Blend Books, Nature

WOODINVILLE, WA — This book is about a bear who leaves the woods to pursue a career as a concert pianist. But to read this book, we humans will have to go into the forest.

A group of mothers from the Woodinville area have started a program that combines reading with hiking. The PopUp StoryWalk project takes Pacific Northwest-themed children's books and, page by page, spreads the story out along a walking path.

Through Sunday, the book about the bear-pianist is on display along a trails at Brightwater Park in Woodinville. Page one of the story is located at a trailhead behind the Brightwater Education Center. The rest of the pages are found along the half-mile trail that loops through the park's forests.

The idea came from Elisabeth Lepine, a Kenmore mother of two. On vacation in Connecticut one year, Lepine visited a state park that had similar story walk.

"It was just so cool, it stuck with me. When I moved here, I thought, 'We need to start something similar,' " she said.

Lepine enlisted two friends, Jasmin Thankachen and Beth Yost, and the three Northshore School District mothers have basically started their own nonprofit around the StoryWalk. The first one popped up in May at St. Edward State Park in Kenmore with the book "Bunnies!!!" by Kevan Atteberry.

The StoryWalks are free and maintained by Lepine, Thankachen, and Yost. The group got a grant from King County's 4Culture for the St. Edwards popup, and have received major backing from Arts of Kenmore. The local businesses The Nest and the Neverending Bookshop also helped sponsor the Brightwater popup.

On a recent afternoon, Lepine walked along the Brightwater trail cleaning and re-positioning the metal frames that hold the book pages. Children with their parents skipped along the trails, some stopping to read along the way.

Lepine has bigger plans for the prjoect. For an upcoming popup in Kenmore, she wants to find a yellow kayak to place at the last page of the book (it's about a boy and a giraffe who explore the ocean on a yellow kayak).

At the end of the trail at Brightwater, a big stuffed bear was resting against the last page of the book. In the bear's lap was a plastic case with a small notebook inside. The notebook was for kids to sign, and it was nearly full of little scribbles from children who had made it to the end of the book.

"The kids don't even realize they're walking!" Lepine said, underscoring that a storybook helps move kids through nature, one page at a time.

You can learn more about the local PopUp Storywalk on the group's Facebook page or on Instagram.

Here are the upcoming PopUp StoryWalk events:

• Brightwater Park (Woodinville), through July 15 "The Bear and the Piano" by David Litchfield
• Miner's Corner (Bothell) July 13 - Aug. 2
• Juanita Beach Park (Kirkland), Aug. 3 "Bunnies!!!" by Kevan Atteberry
• Rhododendron Park (Kenmore), Aug. 11 "Yellow Kayak" by Nina Laden

Photos by Neal McNamara/Patch