Special Delivery

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is gifting books to youngsters up to 5

In mailboxes across Montana, from the most distant outposts to city centers, something special waits for the state’s littlest residents. Books! Thanks to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, thousands of children across the state are receiving one free book a month until their fifth birthday.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is a nationwide initiative funded, in part, by Dolly’s Dollywood Foundation. Its goal is to inspire a love of reading in early childhood. Signing up is easy. Parents of children from birth to age 5 can enroll online to receive the books for free.

“This program is allowing families to get their books where they are at, even in the most rural places in Montana,” says Teal Whitaker, the statewide outreach coordinator for the Imagination Library.

All the books are carefully chosen by early childhood literacy experts and include such classics as “The Little Engine that Could,” “Corduroy” and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” as well as “Coat of Many Colors,” penned by Dolly Parton. The last book each child receives is “Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!” Several books, at least two a year, are bilingual, and new titles are added annually.

“There’s been a lot of research into the ways children’s brains are developing in these early years and the role that books play in that development,” Teal says. “This is creating a foundation for future literary success.”

Research suggests that many families don’t have books in their homes, and others don’t have the means to purchase children’s books. Parton, who grew in a home where money was scarce, was one of those children. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library aims to change that. If a baby is enrolled at birth, by the time the child turns 5, he or she will have a library of 60 books, all their own.

A year ago in June, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library expanded to include all of Montana’s 56 counties. The initiative was spearheaded by Susan Gianforte, Montana’s first lady, and funded, in part, by the Treasure State Foundation.

“It is exciting to see how Imagination Library continues to spread across Montana and inspire a love of reading in our state’s youngest readers,” Susan Gianforte says. “Our local partners have done a fantastic job helping families get enrolled and spreading the word that this program is available to all Montana children up to age 5.”

Prior to Gianforte’s initiative, approximately 9,500 of the state’s 24,000 eligible children were enrolled. That number has grown significantly in the last year. More than 63 local partners have stepped up statewide to sponsor Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in their communities.

“We just want to get books into the hands of kids,” Teal says.

Local sponsors are key, she adds. They help fund the program and also promote it in their community. To be a community sponsor, the funder needs to be a 501(c)3 nonprofit. In a good number of communities, Friends of the Library groups are the local partners. Civic groups like Rotary, Lions Club, Elks Club and Knights of Columbus also provide funding in some areas. Nonprofits like United Way and Boys and Girls Clubs have also taken up the cause. Each book costs about $2.30, and local partners share the cost 50/50 with the Dollywood Foundation.

Currently, Yellowstone County needs a local partner to support the program financially and promote it. Until that partner is found, the Treasure State Foundation is supporting the program in Yellowstone County.

Carbon County was one of the first communities to adopt the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in 2017. It’s now funded by the Red Lodge Carnegie Library’s Friends of the Library, as well as Friends of the Library groups from Bridger and Joliet. Over the years, Rotary has helped, and so has the Red Lodge Elks Club. Red Lodge Carnegie Library Director Jodie Moore has been the program’s administrator since the start. She estimates that about 200 Carbon County children are benefiting with books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

Moore noted that in Carbon County, not all families are able to visit their local library as often as they would like. Because the books arrive in the mail, no child is left out no matter where they live. Perhaps best of all, the books are addressed to each child.

“When they’re old enough to recognize that it’s their name on the book, it’s incredibly special,” Moore says.