By Dolly Parton sends free books to under-fives in North Lincolnshire
Country and western superstar Dolly Parton wants children under the age of five in North Lincolnshire to fall in love with reading.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting programme featuring a carefully selected 60 volume set of books. Each month, children under the age of five receive a high quality, age-appropriate book in the post, absolutely free of charge.
The program is available to all children under the age of five living in North Lincolnshire.
Parents can register their children for the programme by visiting the North Lincolnshire website or at their local children’s centre, local library, with their health visitor, at school, or early years providers.
Dolly Parton was inspired to set-up the Imagination Library program by her father who she believed missed out on opportunities in life due to his poor reading skills.
In a letter published to the Imagination Library website, Dolly said: “Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my Daddy. He was the smartest man I have ever known but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams.
“Inspiring kids to love to read became my mission. In the beginning, my hope was simply to inspire the children in my home county but here we are today with a worldwide program that gives a book a month to well over 1 million children.
