Published: Thursday, March 4, 2010

By John Few
Madison Magazine

Soon children visiting the Madison Public Library will be able to climb aboard the ship from Where the Wild Things Are, take a stroll past Charlotte's Web, play on the bridge from Three Billy Goats Gruff, or take their turn on a life-sized Scrabble board. All of this and more will be included in a children's living library garden planned for the library.

Madison residents will have a chance to get a sneak peak at all of the plans for the garden this Sunday, March 7, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Madison Library.

Lori Severin with 4Site, which donated design plans for the project, will be available to answer questions.

"It's like she took all of the story books we loved as children and put it in this garden," said Kristen Kulavich, who is coordinating the project. "It really makes me want to play in it too."

Kulavich secured a grant for the garden last year from the Alabama Mountains, Rivers & Valleys Resource Conservation and Development Council.

"There is not anything like this in the state and we have not even been able to find anything like this in the country," said Kulavich. "This is just another one of those things we can offer our kids and gives us that edge."

Kulavich said that from the moment people enter the garden they will be transported to a whimsical place filled with storybook themes and interactive educational opportunities.

From inside the main library building, there will be three doors to enter the garden. There will be a full size door, a medium size door and an itty bitty size door just for children.

"A tin man sculpture will be positioned to greet people as they enter the garden," she said. "From there a pathway will lead them into the garden. The path will contain stones with historical information about Madison County and our soil."

The stones will lead to a boat dock straight from the storybook, Where the Wild Beasts Are.

"We will have a ship with sails that is fashioned after the one in the story." Kulavich said. "The kids will be able to get on the ship and play."

A sandbox with a lid will be in the garden as well. "It's not going to be your ordinary sandbox. Inside the sandbox we will have a network of metal string. At the bottom will be colorful magnetic sand called magnetite. The kids will be able to pour the sand on the string creating string structures."

Plans call for a full size vegetable garden with a cedar backdrop which will feature a variety of encouraging words just like Charlotte's web. It will also include a butterfly garden.

"We will have an amphitheater with stone seating where we can hold story times and other programs with the children," said Kulavich. "There will also be a dry creek bed that will be filled with molds of fish that are native to Alabama and over the creek with the bride from from Three Billy Goats Gruff."

One of the most anticipated attractions to the garden will be the life-sized Scrabble board.

"A family can check out a bag of letters from inside, go outside and play scrabble," Kulavich explained. "The benches will be designed to look like the tile holders for the game. The tiles will be 6"x6" blocks. It will be a great experience."

The garden will be fenced in with a picket fence painted by community children.

Each item in the Children's Living Library will be numbered, even the trees, and have a plaque. "Residents can sponsor a tree or bench and designate the specific item they want to contribute," Kulavich said.

The Friends of the Madison Public Library and other civic groups are assisting with this addition.

"The garden will give us a great opportunity to bring musicians in for children's programs. We can have a variety of art projects without worrying about making a mess and have different fun gardening lessons that are very interactive," Kulavich said. "We have a lot of different partners who will start coming in and teaching lessons to the children once the garden is built."

Construction will begin within the next few weeks and expected to be ready to use by this summer.