Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a program that has brought revolution to how children receive books and learn to love reading.
Forming a charity in 1995 by the legendary musician Dolly Parton, the program has shattered one of its largest milestones: surpassing over 200 million books to children around the world.
That is a great achievement and a testimony to Dolly Parton’s commitment to literacy, beginning at an early age, and the development of the love of reading.
Dolly wants her program to be a light that is guiding those young minds and instilling in them a sense of community and love and kindness to one another.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library provides free books every month to every child from birth to age five, hence creating generations of readers.
These readers are prepared for new worlds, and new ideas, and will foster that passion for learning that will be within them for life.
Keep reading, if you want to know more about the library!
Why Dolly Parton Founded the Imagination Library
Dolly Parton’s journey toward founding the Imagination Library was sparked by her own childhood experiences.
Dolly Parton was raised in a poor Tennessee family, where she understood the great potential of books and education in turning lives around.
Her parents, while not very literate, passed on to her the passion for reading and learning that they believed would take her out of the cycle of poverty.
Dolly Parton’s mother, Avie Lee Parton, often read stories to her and all of her kids, thus instilling in Dolly a love of stories and of being creative.
This early book exposure had a big effect on the life of Dolly Parton—the person she became nowadays.
Her love of books and learning wasn’t the only thing that motivated Dolly Parton. Her love of children had her dreaming of bigger things.
How could the children in her community who lacked books and quality education have an opportunity to make it in life?
This was the realization that made her want to make a difference, to have the children have the opportunity she had.
In 1995, Dolly Parton established the Imagination Library with a vision of fostering a love for reading in children and raising early childhood literacy.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Milestones
1.Program Gifts 200 Million Books to Children Worldwide
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, to bring a love of reading to every student, has achieved something incredible: 200 million free, quality, and developmentally appropriate books to children in need all over the world.
This milestone underlines the commitment of the program toward promoting early literacy among children and providing access to books for children irrespective of backgrounds and financial circumstances.
2.Monthly Book Distribution Soars to 2.4 Million
Apart from crossing over 200 million books, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is now gifting a staggering 2.4 million books every month to children from all corners of the globe.
This upsurge in book distribution is the result of the programs growing extremely fast and being warmly embraced by people all over.
3.International Expansion
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is an internationally expanding project, with programs throughout Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland.
International expansion has introduced the potential for this project to affect global children’s literacy.
4.Statewide Expansion
Other U.S. states making statewide commitments to children under age five to provide them books include Maine, Virginia and Missouri
The universal access commitment is assurance that no matter the zip code, no matter the child’s socio-economic status, that child will get the chance to develop a love of reading and tools necessary to help them succeed.
5.Local Partnership
The Imagination Library of Dolly Parton provides this only through shared funding by Dolly Parton and thousands of local community partners.
They represent sharing a common goal in looking after literacy, children, and the resources within their care.
It creates a sense of belonging to a community and sharing responsibility for the future of our children.
6.Program Growth and Impact
Since launching, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has now grown to provide more than 1.7 million free books to children each month around the world.
This expansion, therefore, means a lot in the distribution of books, where the program has given out over 200 million books to children.
The impact of this program can be huge, hence the many instances of children that have fallen in love with reading and increased their literacy levels from mere participation in the program.
7.Innovative Digital Platform
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has also introduced a groundbreaking digital platform to support the physical distribution of books to the enrolled children, which enables the children to have access to eBooks and many more digital resources.
The transition into a digital platform will make the program much more relevant and attractive to modern children, much further-reaching, and available.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is that beacon of light, proving the possible positive outcomes due to a literacy program when communities come together to support the next generation of readers and leaders.
With the program ever expanding and changing, the mission of promoting early childhood literacy and getting books into every home with young children shall never lose its goal.
Dolly Parton’s Literacy Legacy
Dolly Parton’s love for reading and her desire to help foster literacy in children was inspired by her father, Robert Lee Parton.
A poor Tennessee household head at the time Dolly was a child, he valued education despite having never had one and instilled a love of learning in his children.
He instilled in Dolly and her siblings the love of reading and the idea of the world outside the limits of the rural.
Dolly had often referred to the influence of her father with great affection, harking back to the times when he would take her to the local library and encourage her to borrow as many books as she wanted.
He instilled in her awe and love for learning that, she said, helped to make her who she is now.
With his limited education, Robert Lee Parton valued knowledge and the transformational power of reading.Her father was also a great inspiration for her initial writing career.
He would take her to the office of the local newspaper, where she wrote stories and poems, which he would proudly share with the community.
This early encouragement helped foster within Dolly a love for writing and storytelling, which she used to inspire countless children through her Imagination Library.
This, in essence, is testimony to how much she loves and appreciates her father, not to forget the values that the father had imparted to her.
By giving free books to children, Dolly is giving back the gift of literacy her father had given to her, assuring generations to come of the very same opportunities she has been privileged to have.
Through the program, Dolly believes that she could further honor the legacy of her father and pass on the gift of learning to the kids, as he had given her when she was young.
Conclusion
- 200 million books have been distributed from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
- What a remarkable milestone this is for the reading world as well as her philanthropy.
- The program has made millions of children come in contact with books, implanted in them a love for reading, raised literacy rates, and inspired an entirely new generation of readers.
- Dolly’s vision for education and what she has done for her people has become an aspiration for most children and their families.
- At every expansion of her Imagination Library, it has been very clear that Dolly’s legacy will be children all around the world receiving joy, knowledge, and a love for reading.
- Her library is a shining light and an example of hope that one person can make a difference in other people’s lives.