A Free Book Gifting Program
In 1995,Dolly Partonlaunched an exciting new effort,Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library,to benefit the children of her home county in East Tennessee, USA.Dolly’svision 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,Dollywanted 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 Libraryhas 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 totaled just over 1,700. Today,Dolly Parton’s Imagination Librarysends more than one million books per month to children around the world inspiring them to Dream More, Learn More, Care More and Be More.
