Storybook Trail 2026

Dedicated in 2022 to the children of Lakeside and in memory of Joan Price, the Storybook Trail in Cherry Park celebrates a love of reading, learning and the outdoors. Price was instrumental in inspiring generations of Lakesiders to discover the joy of books.

Designed for children and families, the Storybook Trail features 20 reading stations placed throughout the park, each displaying a page from a children’s book. As you stroll the trail, the story unfolds one page at a time, creating a fun and interactive reading adventure.

The Storybook Trail is open June-December, with books changed regularly to keep each visit fresh. Follow the trail clockwise through Cherry Park and discover a new story with every walk. * Designates a new book for this year.

• June 12 — Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord
  • A classic rhyming children’s picture book about the town of Itching Down, which is invaded by four million wasps. To solve the crisis, Bap the Baker proposes making a giant strawberry jam sandwich to trap them, bringing the community together to bake, slice and assemble the massive trap.

• June 19 — Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
  • A curious duck decides to ride a bicycle around the farm, initially wobbling but soon finding it fun. While other animals — including a cow, sheep and horse — secretly harbor doubts or judgmental thoughts, they all change their minds when children leave their bikes behind, leading to a joyful, chaotic and unexpected farmyard bicycle ride.

• June 26 — A Day at the Lake by Stephanie Wallingford*
  •  This cheery book follows three children as they enjoy the simple pleasures and rare glimpses that nature offers us around the lake. The book is told using all five senses, and teaches children vowels and sound effects. Contemporary, large and brightly colored illustrations bring this story to life.

• July 3 — The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
  • A heartwarming, Caldecott Honor-winning picture book (illustrated by Stephen Gammell) about a family’s summer visit from Virginia. It follows the joyous, chaotic arrival of relatives, who fill the house with hugs, laughter, music and shared meals. After weeks of bonding, their departure brings sadness, but they leave with the hope of returning next summer.

• July 10 — Every Night is Pizza Night by J Kenji Lopez-Alt*
  •  A children’s picture book about Pipo, a young girl convinced that pizza is objectively the best food. To prove this, she explores her diverse neighborhood, trying new dishes like bibimbap and tagine, ultimately discovering that the “best” food is actually about community and trying new things.

• July 17 — All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlain*
  •  A lyrical picture book following a young boy named Eli, who cherishes the special, rural locations of his family farm — a valley, river and barn. As Eli grows, he learns to love these places through his family, eventually passing down these memories to his new baby sister, Sylvie, embodying the theme that home and love are anchored to the land.

• July 24 — Napping House by Audrey Wood
  • A cumulative children’s book where a snoring granny, dreaming child, dozing dog, snoozing cat and slumbering mouse pile onto a cozy bed during a rainy afternoon. A wakeful flea bites the mouse, causing a chain reaction that wakes everyone and breaks the bed.

• July 31 — How to be a Good Cat by Gail Page*
  • Hiccup needs someone to watch his new kitten, Bonkers, and Bobo eagerly volunteers. He can’t wait to teach his young friend a few tried-and-true tricks. But Bonkers doesn’t want to sit or stay or fetch. He’d rather shred the curtains or terrorize the goldfish.

• Aug. 7 — We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan Higgins*
  • A humorous picture book about Penelope Rex, a young dinosaur struggling to make friends on her first day of school because she keeps eating her human classmates. After her teacher, Mrs. Noodleman, forces her to spit them out and the class goldfish bites her finger, she learns to control her urges and treat others with kindness.

• Aug. 14 — Nellie Belle by Mem Fox*
  • This book, illustrated by Mike Austin, is a rhyming picture book about a happy, adventurous hound dog who escapes her yard to explore the town. She visits the street, beach and sea, but after being frightened by possums in a dark park, she returns home for a cozy snuggle with her teddy bear, Ted.

• Aug. 21 — Once Upon A Book by Grace Lin
  • A 2023 picture book that explores the joy of reading through a young girl named Alice. Bored on a cold, grey day, Alice escapes into a magical storybook that takes her on adventures — from tropical jungles to outer space — before realizing that home is the coziest place of all.

• September — We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger*
  •  Three friends have a big adventure hiking over a mountain and through a forest to collect leaves of all kinds and colors. What will they do with all their leaves at the end of the story? Jump and play in them, of course!

• October — Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
  • This book, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, is a rhyming tale about a kind witch and her cat who pick up a dog, bird and frog, all of whom help find her lost items. When their overcrowded broom snaps in half, the friends use teamwork to scare away a hungry dragon, prompting the witch to create a new, improved broom.

• November — The Worm Family has Its Picture Taken by Jennifer Frank
  • Worms don’t take good family photos, do they? Find out in this hilarious picture book from a Caldecott Honor illustrator and debut author about a young worm who comes to appreciate her very unusual family for who they are.

• December — The Tree That’s Meant to be by Yuval Zommer
  • A small, crookled fir tree is left all alone after the others near it in the forest are chosen by families at Christmas to bring home. But when the forest animals gather around the lonely little tree to cheer it up and celebrate the season, it finds the warmth of the holidays in the heart of a cold, snowy forest.

• Janaury — Winter Dance by Marion Dane Bauer
  • A fox seeks advice from other animals on preparing for winter, but it’s a golden-eyed friend who shows him the perfect way to celebrate the snowfall.