The Delaware County District Library is proud to announce that we are the recipient of a Delaware Public Health District Creating Healthy Communities Mini Grant. Out of nine applicants, totaling requests for nearly $35,000, the Delaware library’s interactive StoryWalk® reading trail project was one of four projects chosen for full or partial funding.

The Delaware Public Health Department created the Creating Healthy Communities Mini Grant program with the desire to prevent and reduce chronic disease in Delaware County. Additionally, they aim to increase health equity by increasing opportunities for engagement in physical activity through collaboration, partnerships and community engagement.

A StoryWalk® is a disassembled children’s book that has been put on display on various panels around a path or a trail. The trails promote reading and physical activity together in one interactive, family-friendly activity.

The Delaware Library project funding will result in permanent StoryWalk trail structures at one of the Preservation Parks of Delaware County. Last summer, in a pilot project, the Library and Preservation Parks partnered to create science-themed trails at Blues Creek and Emily Traphagen parks. Books were purchased and assembled (or disassembled) by the Delaware Library and placed along walking paths in the parks.

The pilot project used traditional yard signs and stakes with laminated book pages adhered to the signs.

The $4,500 mini grant awarded to the Library will go toward the purchase of permanent structures made from wood, metal or plastic with weather-resistant acrylic coverings to protect the book pages and allow for year-round display. The Library and Preservation Parks will work together to determine the park location and path where the StoryWalk will be featured.

To learn more about Delaware County District Library StoryWalks visit www.delawarelibrary.org/storywalk. You can also take a peek at the titles that will be featured at our Orange, Powell and Ostrander branches this spring.

Additional congratulations to the other mini-grant recipients at the Andrews House, Grace Clinic Delaware, and the City of Delaware Parks and Recreation.

This week we dig into new fiction titles that made it on our shelves in March.

• “When I’m Gone, Look for Me in the East” by Quan Barry. Identical twin brothers – Tibetan novice monk Chuluun and his estranged brother, Mun – traverse Mongolia’s harsh terrain, seeking a reincarnation of the unifying spiritual leader known as the lama. Read it for a luminous meditation on the challenges of faith, fate, and brotherhood (in literal and metaphysical senses).

• “Tides” by Sara Freeman. Stricken by profound loss, a woman walks out on her life and drifts into a seaside town. With only a cell phone and a few bucks, she bums money from tourists; drinks more than she eats; sleeps on the beach. Her funds dwindle as tourist season ends, leading her to a job at a local wine shop. What brought her to this nihilistic self-exile? Can anything come of her tenuous connection to Simon, the shopkeeper? (Note: do NOT mistake this for a romance!)

• “What the Fireflies Knew” by Kai Harris. Ten-year-old Kenyatta (KB) and teen sister Nia must spend the summer with their estranged grandfather after tragic family losses. KB’s love of reading provides solace while left largely on her own to cope with grief, family secrets, and the neighbors’ not-so-subtle racism. You’ll be cheering on this novel’s sympathetic, believable young protagonist from page one. Set during the mid-1980s, Harris delivers a memorable, moving own voices coming-of-age story.

• “None But the Righteous” by Chantal James. In the wake of post-Katrina New Orleans, 19-year-old Ham seeks his foster mother Miss Pearl, who took him in as a rebellious 11-year-old. His journey unfolds in a lush, atmospheric, and nonlinear narrative. The twist! Tired of Ham’s disruptive childhood ways, Miss Pearl gifts him with a locket containing the spirit of a Dominican priest that guides him through life – although perhaps not always in the best ways.

• “Very Cold People” by Sarah Manguso. Ruthie – the child of a Jewish mother and an Italian father – comes of age in small-town Massachusetts, where long-time residents are class-conscious and deeply insular. Will she make it? Ruthie narrates a lifetime of family dysfunction and sexual trauma. At first convinced that she is undeserving of anything more, she gradually gains a sense of autonomy and a desperate will to escape.

• “Wildcat” by Amelia Morris. Aspiring writer Leanne now faces all the usual exhausting tasks of mothering a newborn. However, the spirit of Leanne’s recently deceased dad tips her off that her so-called “best friend” Regina is actually a sabotaging backstabber. Leanne is not having it: she pursues revenge via social media, and it is brutal. Read it for new-mama drama with offbeat wit and a sardonic edge.