Step through a story with the 2025 Book Walk
Visitors to the Duck Pond can find a familiar tale following the trail over the next week.
From now until April 6, members of the Virginia Tech community who journey to the Duck Pond can enjoy a good story along with the sunshine.
The road more read
Virginia Tech's Early Childhood Education Initiatives, which supports parents and caregivers at the university, is a sponsor of the 2025 New River Valley Book Walk, bringing the stories of Laura Numeroff to walkers, one page at a time.
Organized by the Community Foundation of the New River Valley's First Steps initiative around the region, the event provides an opportunity for literacy education that's fun and accessible for both children and adults.
“We’ve taken books such as 'If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,' put them on panels, and created paths that parents can walk with their children and read the book,” said Kim Thomason, program manager for Early Childhood Education Initiatives.
Readers on-the-go take their first steps at page one, located near the Duck Pond’s wooden bridge: “If you give a mouse a cookie …”
There’s time to walk and talk on the way to page two, found a couple steps away, and which is followed by page three. When you’ve made it to the end of the tale, there’s another book, "If You Give a Pig a Pancake," to read on the trip back.
In addition to the story, some panels of the Book Walk also detail local resources for families in the New River Valley.
“These resources may be on school readiness skills or for supporting early childhood and development, be it activities you can do with your family or agencies that can help support your work as parents,” said Thomason.
This year’s event is a follow-up to the successful 2022 Book Walk, which brought pages from Numeroff’s "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" to the Duck Pond and was recognized by the author.
Additional resources
If you are looking for more ways to create engaging experiences for your child, Early Childhood Education Initiatives works to assemble information and educational material for caregivers, including:
- An updated list of summer camps catered to children ages 3-18 around the New River Valley, Roanoke, and beyond.
- Regular Lunch and Learn educational program series and meetups for parents
- Confidential, no-cost office hours to get answers to questions about being a parent while working at Virginia Tech