Book It To The Bridge: Local students flock to the park to celebrate reading
Published 6:37 pm Thursday, September 21, 2017
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye Local high school students dressed up like book characters to read to the children in celebration of Imagination Library Week.
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye The Unaka High School Marching Band provided music for the Book It To The Bridge parade through downtown and performed again once the group reached the Covered Bridge Park.
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye Theresa Carl, Tennessee State President of the Governor’s Books From Birth Foundation, reads "Llama Llama and the Bully Goat" to children in Covered Bridge Park.
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye WJHL News Anchor Josh Smith reads "Five Little Monkeys" to 3-year-old Fields Andrews during the Book It To The Bridge event.
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye Groups of high school students volunteered to read to kindergarteners and Pre-Schoolers as part of the Book It To The Bridge event celebrating Imagination Library Week.
What started as one woman’s dream for her home county in Tennessee 22 years ago has turned into an international program to help improve childhood literacy by putting books into the hands of children.
This week communities across the state, the country, and the world celebrated Imagination Library Week in a variety of ways. Here in Elizabethton, the Carter County Imagination Library hosted “Book It To The Bridge.” During the event, kindergarteners, pre-schoolers, and other young readers marched in a parade through downtown Elizabethton to the Covered Bridge Park. Members of the Unaka High School Band provided music for the parade and also performed once the children reached the park.
After arriving at the Park, the children got to interact with a number of storybook characters portrayed by students from Unaka High School and Elizabethton High School.
WJHL News Anchor Josh Smith, an Elizabethton native and long-time supporter of the Carter County Imagination Library, spoke to the children about reading. He also introduced the special guest for the event — Theresa Carl, the State President of the Governor’s Books From Birth Foundation.
Carl read the book “Llama Llama and the Bully Goat” to the children before the young readers broke into small groups for a special story time with the high school students.
Tyler Fleming, a member of the Carter County Imagination Library Board, said he was thrilled with the turnout for the event.
“We had no idea it would be like this,” Fleming said. “We had expected about 100 kids, and there are close to 500 children in the crowd today.”
