Bookworm Gardens, Sheboygan, Wisconsin - Travel Photos by Galen R Frysinger, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Bookworm Gardens is a vibrant, playful garden that enhances children's literature, the natural world, and the imagination.

The two acre garden offers the young and young at heart the opportunity for free, unstructured play in a beautiful and secure environment.

Once upon a time there was a lovely little town in Wisconsin named Sheboygan. Now Sheboygan, and its darling neighbors of Kohler, Sheboygan Falls and Plymouth, were filled with children, churches, cheese and chairs, and were wonderful places to raise a family. Schools were exceptional, local businesses thrived, and we enjoyed eating cheese and bratwurst. Lake Michigan kept us all “cooler near the lake.” We were even named the “Best Place to Raise a Family” by Reader’s Digest. When our children weren’t in school or helping on the farm, they were climbing trees, building forts or curled up with a good book. Life was wonderful.

Then over the course of time, families got busier and busier, and the children didn’t have time to play outdoors as much. Reality TV replaced real life adventure and reading for many, and playing computer games became the most popular pastime. This made many parents and educators sad.

Now a group of adults came along, and they had an idea to change all that. What if they built a special place, just for kids and their parents and grandparents where they could play outside and reconnect with nature? A safe and enclosed spot designed by award winning professionals to capture their imaginations and bring all their senses to life? An exuberant, playful space where joy is contagious? Welcome to Bookworm Gardens!

Back in 1999 Founder Sandy Livermore visited the Michigan State 4H Children’s Garden while attending the Perennial Plant Convention in East Lansing, Michigan. Not realizing the garden even existed, she spent the day there as part of a photography class. She was struck by the number of smiles she saw that day, not from just small children, but from moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas. Sandy was enchanted. Late in the afternoon, she saw a group of teenagers in matching teal t shirts reading books aloud to groups of small children. When she asked a volunteer who the teenagers were, he explained that these were volunteers who came once per week to read to the kids. In that moment Sandy knew we needed such a garden in Sheboygan County. Not just a children’s garden, but a garden based completely on children’s literature that would nurture kids and adults alike.

books for reading
viewed by my wife, Marlene E Roeseler

For the next year she mulled the possibility over in her mind. Because Sheboygan County has no botanical garden, the task was daunting--creating not only the garden, programming, and the staff to run it--but setting up a not for profit corporation and raising the money necessary to build the garden. The idea gelled after several meetings with the late Bob Peterson, retired City Development Director, who convinced her not only that the idea was a viable one, it was a project that MUST happen. Bob set up many meetings with local officials to help find a site, and after looking at several different possibilities they met with Ray Hernandez, dean of the University of Wisconsin Sheboygan. Ray immediately saw the value of the project, and indicated not only willingness to provide us with a beautiful location for the garden, but also to offer students’ help as interns, artists, and teachers. After our blessing from Ray, we met with County officials, on whose land the university is built. A wonderful relationship was born.

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The next years were spent in the design phase, identifying books to include through input from teachers, librarians, and reading specialists, and designing gardens around them. Finding a core of committed individuals to help make the garden a reality, we became incorporated, applied for not-for profit status, and began the task of applying for grants and soliciting donations. During this time we also contacted landscape architect Herb Schaal from EDAW of Fort Collins, Colorado. Herb had designed twelve children’s gardens throughout the United States at the time, and we felt that he could take our concept plan and transform in into a world-class children’s garden. Our idea, that of designing a garden completely around literature, was completely unique to Bookworm Gardens.

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Johnny Appleseed tree

Once Herb’s Schematic Design Report was complete, we began the task of raising 2.8 million dollars, the total projected cost of the project. We did this by giving presentations to book clubs, wine and cheese gatherings, service groups, corporations and foundations. At the same time, we hired LJM Architects to design our Hansel and Gretel Administration Building as well as several smaller buildings on the site. We also began clearing the site of dead, diseased, and invasive species, a project that took more than a year and included the help of many dedicated volunteers. In addition, we began the search for local artists and educators who could help to bring our garden to life. We were amazed by the huge amount of talent in our own back yard, and also the willingness of the community to jump in feet first to help with the project.

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Many ‘special projects’ helped the garden to evolve in a meaningful manner. Several high schools stepped forward to help build garden elements, as did retail establishments and individuals. Without their involvement, we could not have brought this project to fruition within our budget, as many unavoidable setbacks along the way raised both our costs and stress level.

volunteer opportunities