Take a stroll through Johnston-McVay Park, and you’ll notice a curious number of posts along its winding walking path. Starting at the entrance of the park, you can follow them around swing sets, a wooden tower, public hammocks and underneath trees shedding their leaves.
This is one of three story trails maintained by Westerville Public Library, an initiative that brings literacy outdoors.
First steps
In 2019, Westerville Public Library began an initiative to expand library access to be equal and convenient for all residents in the area. To combat challenges of social distancing and infection prevention presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the library came up with a solution: an outdoor story trail.
Leslie Strader/Westerville Public Library
Westerville unveiled its first story trail in Johnston McVay Park in December of 2020. Funded by the Westerville Library Foundation, Westerville Parks and Recreation installed 15 posts along the park’s quarter-mile walking path. At each post were displayed pages of Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora.
Below each set of pages, literacy prompts ask readers various questions related to the story, such as defining words, identifying animals and making inferences about the message. The prompts are created by staff members in the Westerville Public Library’s Kids Department, who take turns writing them after a book has been selected.
Following the first trail’s success, Westerville Public Library partnered with Genoa Township and Blendon Township in 2022 to install story trails in Hilmar Park and Ridgewood Park. While each township maintains its own land, the story trails’ content is the responsibility of Westerville Public Library’s Kids Department and Kids Librarian Matt Glaviano.
Leslie Strader/Westerville Public Library
“I go out once a month to one of those story trails and put in a different story,” says Glaviano, who personally selects books and works with the library to purchase copies for trail use. “Essentially, every three months, each of the individual locations is rotated to a different story.”
Glaviano explains that the original book panels from 2020 and 2022 have since been through all the parks. So, in 2025, he decided it was time to change things up and use a wider and more diverse selection of authors and books.
Rotated materials focus on subjects such as seasons, animals, weather, colors and prosocial behaviors and relationships. Selections are primarily picture books meant to be experienced by families with children 8 and younger, so only a few nonfiction books with minimal text are included.
“We try to have the books have some tie into the natural world around us. And that’s mainly what I want… something that reflects the world people are physically seeing around them, something that we can ask questions about to expand that experience beyond just what’s on the page,” says Glaviano.
Taking it outside
Leslie Strader/Westerville Public Library
Since the trails have been installed, Westerville Public Library has succeeded in its initial goal of removing barriers, such as transportation, that can prevent families from engaging with the library. Beyond expanding access, the trails offer a range of additional benefits by pairing stories with interactive prompts. Families may find that engaging with the trails’ activities can improve reading comprehension, promote physical activity and provide avenues for kinesthetic learners.
“It gives you a chance to have a story time while not being confined within a library,” says Glaviano. “If there are many people who learn that well just by sitting still and reading… you have an experience that gives those learners a chance to still move around while they’re experiencing a book.”
Leslie Strader/Westerville Public Library
In addition to catering to different types of learning, it provides families a place to bond in a screen-free environment and encourages engagement with nature and local green spaces.
“As a parent, I like taking my kids on story trails to train them to be able to walk farther so we can do more hikes as a family,” says Katy Kaslow, museum specialist for Westerville Public Library. “And Ohio State parks have story trails, too. We started to continuously encounter them, including in Westerville. We’ve done the one at Ridgewood Park a couple of times.”
“Most months there is at least one person who will stop me as I’m going around and say how much they like the story trails,” adds Glaviano. “Oftentimes it's people who are like, ‘We do these with our grandkids,’ or things like that. It’s always fun to get that sort of feedback.”
Grey Romohr is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
