BY KAREN BOSSICK

A girl reading a book in the mountains above a house made of a book and a paddler in a lake ringed by deer, foxes, a river, trees and flowers has begun making the rounds of the Wood River Valley, courtesy of The Community Library’s new state-of-the-art Bookmobile.

The whimsical bookmobile will be active year-round, instead of just during the summer. And it will be seen at various community events.

“We’ve worked hard to make the Bookmobile fun and inviting,” said DeAnn Campbell, the library’s Children’s and Young Adult Library director. “A mobile library is amazing because it increases accessibility to books and increases literacy by bringing a library directly to the people.”

Lilianna Bridge is the Bookmobile librarian.

Up until now The Community Library partnered with The Hunger Coalition’s Bloom Truck to take books to valley locations where The Hunger Coalition was taking free lunches. Having their own Bookmobile will allow The Community Library to branch out to locations as far away as Shoshone and Richfield.

“The new Bookmobile will help us foster a sense of community wherever we go,” said Lilianna Bridge, Outreach and Bookmobile Librarian at The Community Library.

Campbell said those working via the Bloom Truck have seen many happy faces over the years as kids have tried new vegetables and opened new books:

“Thousands of kids have found adventure between the pages of books and, as the Library’s manifesto states, connection ‘to stories and to one another.’ We’ve seen books foster imaginations, learning, and big dreams. By reading, we feel less alone, we travel places, and we go on great adventures. Each book is a possibility. And possibilities are what dreams are made of.”

The Bookmobile will roll through the valley weekdays through Aug. 22. It visits Carey City Park and Bellevue City Park on Mondays and Wednesdays, the Balmoral Apartments in Hailey and the YMCA in Ketchum on Tuesdays and Atkinsons’ Park  in Ketchum and BCRD in Hailey on alternating Thursdays. On Fridays it will visit Richfield City Park and Shoshone City Park.

Lunch or snack packs will be provided at all the locations except the YMCA, Atkinsons’ Park and BCRD.

See the schedule at https://comlib.org/use-the-library/children-and-young-adult-library/bookmobile/.