Corrected: A previous version of this article should have said that the number of books gifted to children since the program’s inception is over 300 million.
In Pennsylvania, the Jeannette Public Library has given over 1,400 books to children in the community since joining Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program.
Brian Brost, director of the library, said providing children access to reading materials was an urgent need in the community.
“It was an easy thing to get involved with because we really want to instill a love of reading from early on in life,” said Brost. “These [children] are going to be our future patrons, and they’re going to do great things in this world.”
Jeannette Public Library is one of many around the United States, and around the world, participating in the Imagination Library program. Launched in 1995, the program has given over 300 million books to children from birth to age 5 across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland.
The Dollywood Foundation has said it remains committed to continuing its literacy work, even with her passing.
“Our responsibility now is to care for what she entrusted to us, help it grow thoughtfully and make certain the love at the heart of her work continues reaching children, families and communities long into the future,” Jeff Conyers, president of the foundation, said in a statement.
Parton, who grew up in poverty as one of 12 children in a family in rural Tennessee, was inspired to create the literacy program by her father, who never learned to read or write.
“He was the smartest man I have ever known, but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams,” wrote Parton on the Imagination Library website.
While reading from an early age has numerous, long-established benefits for children, lack of access to books is a basic impediment that can undermine efforts to support them, said Beth Phillips, an associate director and professor of educational psychology at Florida State University.
Not everyone lives next to a library, or parents might not have a flexible schedule to take children to their local library, said Phillips. Additionally, the average cost of a book for children nowadays can run from $8 to $16.
“One of the things that the Imagination Library did was give families a way to bring their own love of reading to their children, regardless of where they lived or their financial circumstances,” she said.
What is the Imagination Library and how does it work?
The Dolly Parton Imagination Library teams up with a local partner, which could be a business, school district, small or large organization, or an individual, according to the site. The local partner helps with enrollment and promoting the program in the community and are financially responsible for covering or securing the costs of the books and shipping.
When a child signs up for the program, they always start with “The Little Engine That Could” by Arnold Munk. And for the next five years or so, every month they receive an age-appropriate book by mail. The final book is “Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!” by Nancy Carlson. By the end of the program, children enrolled receive 60 books.
Brost, director of the Jeannette Public Library, said that when he found out about Imagination Library, it felt like both institutions shared similar goals.
Libraries “exist to support our communities, and [getting children to read at an early age] was a need that we identified right away,” he said.
“We do summer reading programs, and we do story times, and we have special events for the kids. But that’s for that day. This program enables the kids to develop that love of reading when they’re not here by getting a book.”
Jeannette Public Library’s partnership with Imagination Library started with 10 children signed up and today has over 300 children enrolled and hopes to continue growing.
How mailing children books can benefit learning
Phillips, a director and professor at Florida State University, outlined two ways Imagination Library uniquely helps children.
The program creates a sense of ownership for children—the books sent out can be kept so the children can re-read them at their leisure, said Phillips.
“Young children love hearing the same stories over and over again,” she said. This “is enormously beneficial because being exposed repeatedly to the same vocabulary and the same images helps reinforce what those words mean, and vice versa—[that’s] how children are learning the language.”
Additionally, the program selects books for children that are developmentally appropriate for children at each stage.
That sort of screening is a critical part of any program designed to nurture reading habits, said Phillips.
It’s important to offer guidance on “what kinds of books may be the right fit for [a] child when they’re six months old versus 36 months old,” she said. “That’s not a given for all parents.”
Children can graduate the Imagination Library program being more prepared to develop language skills, added Phillips. Additionally, the program benefits include increasing access for parents who can’t afford to purchase monthly books or are too far from a library.
“We believe very strongly that [mailing children books is] going to instill a love of reading in these kids,” said Brost, “and that’s only going to help them in school and moving forward.”
