My wife Anne recently travelled to Huntsville, Alabama to visit our grandson, Joseph to celebrate his 1^st birthday. After lunch the first day they returned to our son’s home to find a package on the doorstep. It was a book addressed to Joseph. Thinking that it was an early birthday present, Anne asked our son “Who sent the present?”

 He replied “Dolly”.

“Dolly, who?” she asked. 

“Dolly Parton” he replied. “It is her free reading program for young children.”

Anne and I were unaware of this wonderful program. After learning more about it I wanted to share it with you in case you want to explore signing up your children, grandchildren, or make a charitable donation.

Country singer and songwriter Dolly Parton started Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in 1995 to foster the love of reading in preschool children. Originally the program was started to benefit the children in her home county of Eastern Tennessee. Since then, it has expanded across the United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, Australia, and Republic of Ireland.

Through a partnership with local communities, the charity mails free, high-quality books monthly to children from birth to age five regardless of family income. Today, one in ten children under the age of five in the US receives Imagination Library books. There are currently over $2.3 million kids registered and the Imagination library has gifted almost 200 million books. They are currently sending out over 2 million books each month.

“We aspire to firmly establish Dolly Parton and the Imagination Library as the highest quality, most effective, instantly recognized, global book gifting resource that policymakers, early childhood organizations and families trust to help inspire a love of reading and learning in children as we provide the most powerful opportunity for children to dream more.”

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Mission Statement

Each year a committee of specially selected early childhood literacy experts reviews hundreds of potential titles for inclusion in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The prevalent theme and focus is Inspiration and Imagination.

Other fundamental themes:

• Love of reading and learning
• Regard for diversity of people, their roles, culture, and environment
• Promotion of self-esteem on confidence
• Appreciation of art and aesthetics

You can see the 2023 book list is here.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has partnered with American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. (APH) to make many of the books in her program available in braille and audiobook format, so that young blind and visually impaired children can also benefit from these books. These will be offered free-of-charge to eligible families and may be purchased at a low cost by all others.

Arkansas has had an active program with Imagination Library affiliates since 2005. There are currently more than 57,000 children in Arkansas enrolled in the program. Arkansas has full statewide coverage- all children under five in Arkansas are eligible for enrollment.

You can check availability in your area here.

The program has received numerous awards:

2000 – Association of American Publishers Honors Award from Association Of American Publishers
2001 – Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval
2003 – Child and Family Advocacy Award From Parents As Teachers National Center
2011 – Presidents Crystal Apple Award
2012 – Imagination Library recognized In The Academic Journal, Reading Psychology, For “increasing Parental Reading Through Book Distribution.”
2014 – Best Practices from The Library Of Congress Literacy Awards
2019 – Recording Academy Musicians honors Dolly for her philanthropic efforts
2021 – The Library of Congress Awards the Imagination Library with the $150k David M. Rubenstein Prize
2022 – The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) honors Dolly with Distinguished Service Award
2022 – National Education Association awards Dolly with Friends of Education Award
2022 – Eric Carle Angel Award
2022 – Dolly is awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy Award

Dolly Parton started this program to help the children in her poor Tennessee County and to honor her father who never learned to read. The program promotes early parent involvement with their young children to develop verbal, communication, and reading skills. I cannot think of many other programs that have this much impact. If you’d like to make a donation to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library you can do so here.

Ralph Broadwater, M.D., CFP®

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