McKeesport’s Story Time Walk encourages children to read

Brother and sister Zayvion Best, 8, and Zerenity Jones, 4, enjoyed making sun visors and getting new storybooks Thursday. They are checking out copies of “Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business” by Esphyr Slobodkina.

By JEFF STITT

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Many storybooks take children on a literary journey where words, pictures and illustrations allow their imaginations to roam into another world.

Kids from McKeesport and surrounding communities were given a chance to get out into the fresh air at Renziehausen Park Thursday to take a journey through the wonderful world of stories during the ninth annual Spring Around Story Time Walk.

Kids between 2 and 8 years old and parents who attended the event at the Andrew Jakomas Blue Top Pavilion were able to visit around a half dozen different stations where kids were given free books and a chance to participate in a fun literary-themed activity. 

Youngsters also got to play in a life-size obstacle course that was reminiscent of walking through the Candy Land board game. While at the stations, which were sponsored by Carnegie Library of McKeesport, UPMC for You, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, McKeesport Area School District and others, parents were given literature and resources about community and educational programs, family and parental support programs and health and wellness programs in the area. They also had the chance to enroll their children in youth activities or register them for kindergarten and Head Start.

The idea for the Story Walk and information fair for parents was developed through the Mon River Fleet Lions Club’s Early Childhood Committee under the lead of Laura Bosnak Thompson of the AIU’s McKeesport Family Center. 

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