Stories on the trail

MANAWA – The Pat Wade Trail behind the Manawa Elementary School will see a new addition of a story walk this month.
A story walk is dissecting a book, page by page, and putting them up on a trail so as you are walking you are also reading a story.
Jennifer Krueger, the district library media specialist for the Manawa school district, who has held this position for ten years and worked in the district for 33 years in total, has been working on creating the story walk since the 2020 Covid pandemic as a way to promote reading and exercise.
“When Covid hit and thinking about being the library, and I’m like, ‘Okay, how am I going to get books in the hands of kids?’ if we can’t have them here in the building and we don’t want them touching the books because if they have Covid, then that transmits on there,” Krueger said.
That is when Krueger started looking into creating the story walk as well as gathering the funding and materials needed to proceed in the building process.

She began by applying for grants, the first was through Casey’s Gas Stations, which she said she did not get and the project was put on hold until she could find another grant to apply for.
“It’s always been in the back of my mind that I want to get a story walk established here. We’ve got beautiful trails, we have perfect places to put them,” Krueger said.
Finally last fall she found a grant through the Green Bay Packers Foundation.
Krueger said they have grants for schools every year and they have different themes, this year the theme was education and health, which she thought fit perfectly with the story walk.
She applied for the grant and received it last fall for a total amount of $3,500.
Krueger said that covers most of the trail but not all of it, with the post and signs being funded she then looked for a way to fund the reading materials.
Krueger said she was talking to the staff at the Sturm Memorial Library in Manawa about getting the story walk up and running, however telling them that she is $2,000 short.
The Sturm Memorial Library donated the remaining funds, and Krueger said she was able to get enough books for the trail to last a little over a year—until August 2026.
Sue Vater Olsen, the head librarian at Sturm Memorial Library, said it was a natural partnership for the Manawa Elementary School and the public library.
“Sturm Memorial Library provides experiences and resources that enhance the lives of community members. Play and time spent outside are healthful for everyone, and the story walk heightens the experience with a picture book,” Vater Olsen said.
Krueger said after they get up and running she will be trading off with the public library, meaning she will add a book one month and then the next month the library will put up a book.
The story walk Krueger is hoping to get started within the month of May.
Vater Olsen said most of the books on the story walk will also be available to check out at the public library.
“Reading the same book many times is fun for kids and builds confidence and I’m looking forward to checking out a book to someone who discovered it on the story walk,” Vater Olsen said.
This collaborative project also includes technology education students, through the help of Dan Koehler, are helping to assemble the posts that the story will be displayed on.
Krueger said the first book that will be displayed is Finding Wild by Megan Wagner Lloyd, followed by Bird Watch by Christie Matheson.
Seasonal themes will be part of choosing new books to put up on posts, with all the books chosen being written in the last five years, Krueger said.
There will be 20 signs total, so if books are shorter, Krueger said she will have activities or information that relates to the stories.
Krueger said her goal is to put up two books a month in the summer and one book a month during fall, and winter will vary depending on whether or not the path is accessible.
Krueger said she would not have been able to complete this project without the help of the Green Bay Packers Foundation and Sturm Memorial Library.
“I’m hoping that this becomes a big draw, not only for our town, but bringing people in from outside of our town in to see the wonderful things we have in Manawa,” Krueger said. “Because we’ve got great trails, we’ve got great shops. There’s a lot that you can do here.”