New Storybook Trail unveiled at downtown Jonesborough park

Faith Little
·2 min read

JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL) — Town leaders unveiled a new Storybook Trail installation at Jimmy Neil Smith Park in downtown Jonesborough on Saturday.

The project was a collaborative effort between the Friends of the Jimmy Neil Smith Park, the International Storytelling Center and the Town of Jonesborough. Organizers said it wouldn’t have been possible without significant volunteer hours.

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Nancy Dishner, president and CEO of the Niswonger Foundation, told News Channel 11 that exposing kids to literacy at an early age in everyday life is vital to growth and success. She and her husband Harold provided the funding for the project.

“The opportunity to teach children to read is one of the most important gifts that we can give because it’s what leads them to their future,” she said. “So, any type of opportunity to have children exposed to reading is really important.”

  • (WJHL)
    (WJHL)

A release from organizers said the project was inspired by a program within the Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation. Pages of a storybook are encased in glass and placed in order down a walking path through Jimmy Neil Smith Park. While kids walk, they can stop and read pages of the storybook.

The first book in rotation at this Storybook Trail is “Everyone Has a Story to Tell”, written by local authors Rebecca Isbell and Marilyn Buchanan, with illustrations by Jonesborough local artist Bill Bledsoe.

Dishner chose this book because “it centers on Jonesborough’s storytelling tradition, teaches the reader the importance of knowing their own and others’ stories and was written and illustrated by beloved Jonesborough residents,” the release states.

The displayed book will be changed throughout the seasons, so families can return to a brand new book to read many times, according to the release. A little library house is also on-site, where visitors can take a book and leave a book.

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