This Independence Day, when Salman went to his favourite park, a wonderful surprise awaited him. As he got inside, he found pages of story books displaying across the park.

"This is my favourite book!" he exclaimed with joy as he read a page of The Clever Boy before moving towards the next one.

But the nine-year-old was not the only one welcomed by surprise. Dozens of Lahoris who headed out to parks on Friday also got to be a part of an extraordinary outdoor reading experience.

Inside the six parks in different parts of the city, there were blown-up pages of story books exhibited on large flexes. Each flex containing two pages was installed along a path. When the children saw large images of their favourite story books, they immediately ran to read them. And, as they finished reading a page, they would move on to the next one, following a specified path.

Called Story Walk, the project, which was executed by the famous Alif Laila Book Bus Society (ALBBS), was initiated by Anne Ferguson from Montpelier, Vermont, and developed in collaboration with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in order to promote literacy and physical activity among the children and to encourage parents and community involvement.

The Story Walk provided the children with a unique opportunity to read books while strolling through the parks. Setting up the books in parks not only boosted the interest and imagination of the children but also related the plot with the surroundings.

A total of fifteen different children’s story books were displayed at the Alif Laila Book Bus Park, Bagh-e-Jinnah, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Jam-e-Shireen Park, National Bank Park and Minar-e-Pakistan. The activity began at 10am and continued till late evening. A large number of families showed up and enjoyed the educational activity.

A seven-year-old boy named Taha, who was also participating in the Story Walk, pointed at a flex behind him and said, "I have already read this story in my class but I am enjoying reading it here; it’s much more fun this way, as the words and images are bigger."

The concept is decidedly new to Pakistani children and their parents. "I have never seen anything like this before," said Sadaf, one of the mothers at Bagh-e-Jinnah. "This seems like a perfect idea to whet the appetite of younger children for reading. My children are absolutely loving it."

The idea of conducting a story walk is especially significant in this age of technology where the children are usually more exposed to digital devices. Dr Farooq, who was going around the park with his kids, said he loved the idea -- "Two of the best activities, walking and reading, are combined here. This is healthier reading; you can see the kids enjoying it much more."

This innovative idea not only delighted the children but adults seemed to enjoy it as well. Most parents read out to their children from the pages and enjoyed themselves.

The environment at the parks was perfect for people of every age. Muhammad Nawaz, an elderly man who goes to Bagh-e-Jinnah for a walk everyday, said this was the first time he had seen such an activity in the park.

He seemed very contented that the organisation chose to arrange it on the Independence Day, "This is a wonderful gift on August 14. This is what the Quaid had dreamt of -- a literate nation!"

On the most important day in the history of Pakistan, watching children running around the parks to read books sure was a delight. A country with a literacy rate of 58 percent desperately needs educational initiatives like this one. Fortunately, there are organisations in Pakistan who do take education of children seriously. ALBBS started in 1978 with a double-decker bus that was Pakistan’s first children’s library and the only mobile library in Lahore. For decades, the Society has been carrying out different educational initiatives.

Some of the people visiting the park were already familiar with the previous work of ALBBS. One of them was Raheela, a school teacher. While sharing her experience she said, "I have been to the bus library once; I loved everything about it, from its red exterior blending with the green surroundings to the arrangement of toys inside the bus. When I saw it, my first thoughts were that the children must have loved it."

This is not the first time the organisation has arranged an educational activity. Other than the activities the organisation conducts throughout the year, it also arranged pre-Independence Day activities at its Library in Gulberg-II where the underprivileged children from the nearby communities participated in speeches, drawing, poetry and national song competitions. These children are regular members of the library and are taught to read and write.

This year, the event was organised in Lahore but ALBBS plans to take it to other cities across Pakistan as well.