Dolly Parton’s
Imagination Library, United States
A Free Book Gifting Program
In 1995, Dolly Parton launched an
exciting new effort, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, to benefit
the children of her home county in East Tennessee,
USA. Dolly’s vision was to foster a love of reading among her
county’s preschool children and their families. The new program gave each child
a specially selected book each month. By mailing high quality, age-appropriate
books directly to their homes, Dolly wanted children to be excited
about books and to feel the magic that books can create. Moreover, she could
ensure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.
Since its launch, Dolly Parton’s
Imagination Library has set and surpassed many goals and milestones.
National replication, which started in 2000, allowed more and more communities
to adopt the program. State-wide coverage was established in Tennessee in 2004.
Furthermore, international growth provided expansion in Canada (2006), United
Kingdom (2007) and Australia (2014).
The first book order in 1995 totalled just over
1,700.
Dolly
Parton’s Imagination Library, United Kingdom
In December 2007, Dolly
Parton travelled to London to announce that her Imagination
Library was launching in the UK!
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a
book gifting programme devoted to inspiring a love of reading in the hearts of
children everywhere. With help from our local partners, the
first Imagination Library book was gifted in the UK in 2008 and we’ve
grown every year since then, reaching more and more children each month.
Locally
We are involved with 24 primary schools and
nurseries in
North East Lincolnshire. . Since 2014, our club
send over
32,803 books to
preschool children
across Grimsby and Cleethorpes