Members in the News: Mark Janzen

Groover Labs board member Mark Janzen and his sister, children’s author and illustrator Kelley Donner, were recently featured in the Wichita Eagle for their company, The Storybook Company, LLC. The Wichita-based business creates interactive outdoor storybook displays for paths at schools, libraries, and parks across more than 30 states.

A Note: We highlight our members (and former members) whenever they make headlines, and we want to encourage and support local journalism. Some outlets, like the Wichita Eagle and the Wichita Business Journal, are subscription-based. You can read the full story at the links below, or stop by the coffee bar to read the print editions.

From a snow scene in canada to a warm beach in hawaii, wichita product is a hit

By Carrie Rengers

December 29, 2025

This holiday season, Wichitan Kelley Donner’s interactive outdoor children’s storybook “If Mice Pulled The Sleigh” by Bill Barnsley is being shared everywhere from snowy paths in Newfoundland to a warm beach in Hawaii. “It amazes me,” Donner said of how popular her permanent reading displays have become.

They’re also at places like a horse stable where children with disabilities visit and on a military base. Donner had been a children’s author and illustrator for years but then found a way to grow her business and bring joy and education to a lot of children through outdoor storybooks that are placed along paths. She and her brother, tech entrepreneur and mentor Mark Janzen, formed the Storybook Co. in summer 2024 to capitalize on the trend of sharing children’s books on outdoor panels along paths, one or two pages at a time, at various locales. The concept “really started to take off during the pandemic,” Donner said. It was through her book “School Is More Than A Building” that she learned that school librarians were taking apart two or three copies of the book to create one story along a path.

Read the rest of the article here.