This Prescott Valley creation appears at community events.
Hepperle has started A Storybook World, Inc., born out of the desire to create a children’s storybook-themed botanical garden in the Quad Cities area. Until that dream comes to fruition, Hepperle’s pop-up Storybook Garden is a mobile method of bringing interactive book-based experiences to children and families. Hepperle says she and her fellow board members, Alex Heinemann, CEO of Boys and Girls Club of Central Arizona, and local entrepreneur and business owner Sarah Rainwater, are constantly seeking new and exciting ways to help children build a connection to books.
Storybook Garden interactions range from sensory buckets to art projects. Hepperle meets kids and families by setting up at free community events, such as the YMCA Healthy Kids Day, the Prescott Valley Pinwheel Party and seasonal Prescott Valley events Eggstravaganza and Harvest Fest.
Because of the hands-on aspect of the activities, Storybook also fits in well at STEM events such as Women in STEM (Highlands Center), Prescott SciTech Fest (Embry-Riddle), and the Chandler Innovation Fair. Hepperle’s brainchild, Gigi the Water Dragon, provides watershed education and water conservation tips and headlines these events.
Hepperle also has written and illustrated an interactive children’s book featuring Gigi, designed to educate kids about how watersheds work, and My First Comic Book, created for early and pre-readers! My First Comic Book is an alphabet-based story featuring young animal characters learning in a school environment. It is a fun introduction to panel-styled storytelling, and an opportunity for parents who grew up loving comic books to introduce that love to their children.
She has noticed that all caregivers enjoy engaging with their kids in the various interactions, but dads seem to be particularly intrigued, she says.
“The best way to get kids interested in reading is through their caregivers, so this is exciting to see. My First Comic Book was written to further engage dads in the reading adventure,” she said.
Recently, A Storybook Garden participated in a book drive program to support families with an incarcerated parent. Sixty pairs of books were delivered to the Manzanita Re-entry Unit at the ADOC campus in Tucson. One book stays at the facility and the matching book is sent home to the child.
“This way, the parent and child can each hold the book and read it together during phone visitations,” Hepperle said. “It creates connection within the family and builds relational value to books and reading.”
The book drive started after Hepperle was in a train-the-trainers class for the Protective Factors Framework put on by the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance, hosted by Prevent Child Abuse AZ in Tempe.
“One of the people at my table was Holley Escudero, who works for the Manzanita Re-entry Unit down in Tucson,” Hepperle said. “We were talking about how the guys in that situation don’t have access to the internet, so they are cut off from basic information that the rest of us take for granted. That triggered a thought in my head about how cut off they are from everything, including their families.
“I had the idea for the two books [one to stay at the facility and one to be sent to the child] and told Holley about it to see what she thought. She loved it. Obviously, she and her team are the ones who must facilitate it, so I had to make sure she was on board. I thought it was crazy that nobody had ever had this idea before, so I just started it.”
The event generated great excitement and will be repeated. Escudero contacted Hepperle, saying, “We want to keep doing this with you. These guys are super excited. I have one who has never met his granddaughter. She is 5 and he will be giving her the book in person to read together.”
A Storybook Garden will also be traveling to most rural libraries in Yavapai County this summer, in order to encourage kids to take part in the summer reading program. Ideally, every child will receive a copy of the story-prompt book, “Story Time,” Hepperle said. Additionally, Storybook is assisting in the design and illustration of books that detail Tohono O’odham history in order to keep tribal children in foster care connected to their culture. QCBN
By Heidi Dahms Foster, QCBN
For more information on A Storybook World, visit www.astorybookworld.org.
Courtesy Photo: Storybook Garden, the mobile brainchild of Prescott Valley Councilmember April Hepperle, provides interaction opportunities with the goal of cultivating a love of reading in children.
