Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was launched in 1996 for preschoolers in Sevier County, Tenn., as a gift of encouragement for the children of Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain homeland. In 1999, Parton announced that she would extend this opportunity to communities nationally and even internationally to replicate her Imagination Library program in their own area.
Communities wishing to offer this program have sponsors that have three primary roles: pay the cost of the books and mailing, register the children for the program and manage their local database.
Details of how the program works in Parke County are:
• The day the child is born, children who register for the program receive a book every month until their fifth birthday.
• Preschoolers currently living in Parke County may enter the program at any time and begin receiving an age-appropriate book every month until their fifth birthday.
• Families with preschool children who move into the community are eligible to register and become part of the program.
• Participating families who move out of the community will exit the program at that time.
• If a family has more than one preschool-age child, each child may participate and receive his/her own library.
A committee composed of individuals from education, child development, academia and early childhood literacy select the books for Parton’s Imagination Library. The children’s classic “The Little Engine That Could” is the first book of each library and “Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten” by Joseph Slate is the final book in the collection. Each book arrives in the mail and is addressed to the child.
The project in Parke County is being funded by Rockville Public Library and the Parke County Community Foundation. Anyone interested in having their child enrolled in this program should go to the library at 106 N. Market St. in Rockville. Also, library staff will go into the community to publicize the program and enroll children. Brochures will be available in the community and must be mailed to the library to have the child enrolled.
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