By: Jessica Doss
Take a walk in the woods with the Forsyth County Public Library (FCPL)! Bookish Trailblazers is an outdoor book club dedicated to bringing nature and adventure to library patrons.
Bookish Trailblazers was created by Jessica Doss, an information specialist at the Sharon Forks branch with a passion for the outdoors and nature conservancy, after reading about a kayaking book club at the Russell Library in Connecticut. In August 2021, FCPL was beginning to resume in-person programming, and introducing an outdoor program was a perfect way to make this transition. This program is the first of its kind at FCPL, and it has received much interest since it started. The book club meets at a local park once a month, where the group walks approximately one mile on the paved path around the park and then meets at a pavilion where they discuss the selected book. Depending on the attendees, the group breaks up into two or three walking paces, with the speed walkers in front, normal pace walkers in the middle, and slow walkers at the end. Despite the varying paces, the group sticks together and makes it back to the pavilion in about 15 minutes. When the weather is unfavorable, such as rain or freezing temperatures, the book club is moved inside to the Sharon Forks branch. The average attendance for the program is five to six patrons, which is perfect for this type of book club, and two staff members. Since its inception, the book club has seen better attendance when meeting outside than inside because patrons are still cautious with indoor programs after COVID-19.
The books selected for the book club are all nonfiction books – mostly memoirs – that focus on nature and adventure. The program kicked off in August with A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and for May the book will be Two Trees Make a Forest by Jessica J. Lee. The most popular book so far was Leave Only Footprints by Conor Knighton. Discussions about the books are enlightening and interesting, especially so because each patron has a different background which allows them to shed light on the topic at hand. For example, one patron is an experienced hiker and explains unfamiliar trail terms or practices to the other patrons. Another patron teaches agricultural classes at the local university and enlightens the group with information about sustainability and farming practices. Everyone leaves the meeting learning something new and with a revitalized respect for the outdoors.
There have been numerous studies on how nature is beneficial to our health, and hosting a program outside of the walls of the library is a great way to help patrons become more active and more familiar with nature. A participant told FCPL that “we need more programs like this to learn about nature so we respect our natural environment.” Bookish Trailblazers strives to do just that.
Learn more about the Forsyth County Public Library at https://www.forsythpl.org/.
