Seven families around the world are the recipients of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library 200 Millionth Book Celebration surprise as the Imagination Library commemorates a major milestone – 200 million books gifted globally since its inception in 1995.
The early childhood book-gifting program mails a high-quality, free book each month to children from birth to age five.
In September, International Literacy Month, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library celebrated by randomly hiding enchanting Dolly bookmarks inside Imagination Library books of seven families from five countries.
Recipient families who received the bookmarks are in Portland, Victoria, Australia; South Lanarkshire, Scotland; Dublin, Ireland; Ontario, Canada; Beaver, Oklahoma; Clay, New York; and Sterling, Illinois.
The children’s celebration includes an opportunity to video chat with Dolly herself and receive a personalized signed letter from Dolly, an autographed photo from Dolly and four Dollywood Theme Park tickets.
The Dollywood Foundation also donated $2,000 USD/CAD/AUD or £2,000 GBP on behalf of the child to their Local Imagination Library Partner in their community as a thank you to whom Dolly calls the true heroes of her program.
Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly started the Imagination Library in 1995 to serve the children of her hometown in Sevier County, Tennessee. Today, her program spans five countries and gifts more than 2.6 million free, high-quality, age-appropriate books each month to children around the world. There is never a charge to families who participate in the program and it is open to all children under the age of five in geographic areas with operating programs.
“I know there are children in communities around the world with big dreams and the seeds of these dreams are often found in books,” said Dolly. “It’s been one of my greatest gifts in life to help instill a love of reading through my Imagination Library. Reaching 200 million books worldwide is a major milestone that I’m so very proud of, and I want to thank all of our local program partners, funders and supporters from the bottom of my heart. But we’re just getting warmed up, we have so much more to do! Together, we can inspire even more children to dream more, learn more, care more and be more.”
About Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
Since launching in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has become the premier early childhood book gifting program in the world. The flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation has mailed well over 200 million free books in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland. The Imagination Library mails more than two million high-quality, age-appropriate books each month to registered children from birth to age five. Dolly envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading, inspiring children to dream. The impact of the program has been widely researched and results suggest positive increases in key early childhood literacy metrics. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. For more information, please visit imaginationlibrary.com.
