Singer, songwriter, and philanthropist Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has come to the Ashcroft HUB, which will be providing free books to children aged 0 to 5 years who are registered in the program.
The HUB’s executive director, Jessica Clement, says that since the HUB is a literacy outreach agency, the Imagination Library has been on their radar for the last couple of years. When she heard about it again during a recent call with other literacy organizations, she was inspired to look into the program and see what it entailed.
“We pay $3.85 per child per book, and the Dolly Parton Foundation supplements that to cover some costs,” she explains. Various potential funders were contacted, and the Ashcroft and District Lions Club provided the start-up money needed to get the program launched in Ashcroft.
Parton has always wanted to inspire a love of reading among preschool children, and in 1995 started a program in her home town of Sevier County, Tennessee that provided free books to young children. The program gradually spread, within the United States and then abroad, and made its first appearance in Canada in 2006.
Parton and her Dollywood Foundation cover many of the overhead and administration costs of the program, while community partners also provide some funding and coordinate the registration of local children in the program. The Imagination Library now gifts more than two million books every month, and it is estimated that one in 10 children under the age of five in the United States now receive an Imagination Library book in the mail every month.
As of March 2023, the library has gifted more than 204 million books to children across the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland. On October 2022, Parton accepted the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in recognition of her many philanthropic efforts. These included her investments in alleviating poverty, strengthening early college access, advancing medical research, and for strengthening childhood education through the distribution of books for free worldwide via the Imagination Library.
Each month, children who are registered with the Imagination Library via a local organization receive a free, high-quality, age-appropriate book in the mail. The books are addressed to the child, who can start receiving them at birth and every month after that until their fifth birthday.
“Everybody gets the same book based on their age, and there are different books for different age groups,” explains Clement. Since expanding into Canada, the Imagination Library has worked to include more books featuring Canadian authors and illustrators into the program.
“Every book is hand-picked by Dolly,” adds Clement. “She has a huge role in it. And there is absolutely no cost to the family; all you have to do is register your child.”
Clement notes that studies have shown again and again that the biggest indicator in life success is being read to as a child.
“If you read to your child from when you’re pregnant, and continue to read to them even when they can read, it’s huge.” She adds that reading to children even after they’ve learned to read means that you can introduce more advanced books to them than what they can read themselves: “Children can understand something read to them that’s three grades ahead of what they can actually read.”
Clement adds that having the books addressed to the child is a nice feature of the program. “Kids love getting things in the mail. And it means that it’s not mom giving you a book; someone sent you a book.”
For now the program is available to children in Ashcroft and Cache Creek, with a maximum of 25 to start. “The Lions have said let’s see how far the initial funding goes, and have soft-committed to continuing the funding into the future. We’ve only had a couple of forms filled out, but there’s been quite a lot of interest.”
Forms are available at the Ashcroft HUB office, and Clement says that as they need the signature of an authorized adult (parent or guardian), anyone interested should drop by the HUB. For more information, call the HUB at (250) 453-9177 or email ashcrofthub@gmail.com.
editorial@accjournal.ca
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
