Free Books for Every Child

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library connects local children to the joys and benefits of reading

By Ren Brabenec | June 22, 2024

Dolly Parton has enjoyed the title “The Queen of Country Music” for decades, but she also goes by another name. Young people worldwide know her as “The Book Lady” because Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) has mailed free books to millions of children over nearly 30 years.

From humble beginnings in Parton’s rural hometown in Sevier County, Tennessee, DPIL has grown across the U.S. and into Canada, the UK, Australia, and Ireland. The organization has gifted over 227 million books to children since its inception in 1995, now mailing books to about 2.9 million kiddos monthly.

Parton’s childhood memories of her father inspired the Imagination Library. “Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done,” she said in a letter about why she started DPIL. “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.”

Parton grew up understanding the importance of reading and its direct connection to achieving one’s highest aspirations. And her idea caught on. “The real heroes of our story are the thousands of local organizations who have embraced my dream and made it their own,” she wrote. “They wake up every day with a passion to make sure their kids have every opportunity to succeed.”

The Power of Reading

One local chapter, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Grand Traverse Region (DPIL-GTR), first enrolled 24 Interlochen children in the program in 2016. Now, the all-volunteer organization serves more than 3,200 kids across Grand Traverse, Antrim, Benzie, Leelanau, and Kalkaska counties, the equivalent of 40 percent of children ages 0-5 in the five-county region.

“Our mission is to promote early literacy and a love of reading by getting books into the homes, hands, and hearts of young children in our community at no cost to their parents,” says Betsy Moore, main coordinator for DPIL-GTR.

The organization is completely volunteer-operated and 100 percent of the funds it receives go towards putting books into children’s hands.

Every month, DPIL-GTR mails a high-quality, age-appropriate book to the child’s home, addressed to the child, with reading tips for parents included on the inside flap of each book. In so doing, the organization helps local families acquire carefully selected Penguin Random House children’s books at no cost to themselves, books that parents can read to their kids through the crucial phases of early childhood development.

Speaking of childhood development, Moore tells us a child’s earliest years, 0-5, are critical in terms of how much information little ones absorb at this stage.

“When parents read one book per day to their kids, their children will have heard about 300,000 words by the time those kids enter kindergarten. Conversely, kids who aren’t read to daily will only have heard about 4,600 words by the time they enter kindergarten.”

According to Moore, there are three essentials to raising children who read: 1) Parents must begin reading to their kids during infancy because much of a child’s language development occurs from birth to five years of age. 2) Filling homes with books is critical, as kids then get to choose the books they’d like to have read to them. 3) Parents must be educated about the importance of reading to their kids and how to read to them in an interactive, engaging way.

DPIL-GTR published data showing that 56 percent of Grand Traverse Area children do not have the literacy skills they need when they enter kindergarten. Imagination Library works hard to reduce that figure.

“Every story in every book comes from the heart. You can tell these books were carefully chosen for inclusion in the Imagination Library,” says Atarah Breakie, a Traverse City nanny who regularly uses DPIL books in area homes. “Most of the families I nanny for are registered with DPIL. With the amount of people who don’t have access to libraries, we truly needed someone to help. Dolly really pulled through to support these families. If children are read to at a young age they will continue to enjoy to read. Knowledge is power!”

Collaboration with Community

From local donation drives to volunteer-led outreach and registration campaigns in schools, preschools, libraries, daycare centers, food pantries, and baby pantries, DPIL-GTR interacts closely with the community. They’ve also partnered with Traverse Area District Library, Elk Rapids District Library, and sister affiliate organization DPIL Benzie.

“We aim to have 60 percent of children under five in the five-county region enrolled in the program by the end of 2024,” says Moore.

It’s a big goal, but the community is showing up.

In 2021, DPIL-GTR received an anonymous gift from a Kalkaska resident who wanted to see the program brought to Kalkaska County. Coincidentally, the first Kalkaska child to receive a book is named Jolene (pictured)—her parents are huge Dolly fans!

Moore says that the books headed to Leelanau County children are currently funded by the Early Childhood Millage administered through the Benzie Leelanau Health Department. “The millage expires in 2024,” she adds. “If it is not renewed, or if funds are allocated elsewhere, we will need to fundraise in that county to ensure that Leelanau children continue to get their books each month.”

In the fall of 2023, DPIL-GTR received a $113,000 grant from Impact100 to support DPIL-GTR’s collaboration with Sunrise Rotary’s Born to Read and Munson Medical Center on the Books from Birth Campaign. Through Books from Birth, every newborn at Munson Medical Center who lives in the Grand Traverse five-county region is now offered a “community gift” of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

The Books from Birth campaign is funded through the end of 2024 via the Impact 100 grant. According to Moore, about 1,500 babies are born every year at Munson, and DPIL-GTR is committed to offering the Imagination Library to every child born at Munson into perpetuity, which means more fundraising and more work on the horizon.

“Babies are born every year,” says Moore in closing. “And our mission is for every child born in our community to grow up in homes full of books with parents who read to them. Our goal for 2024 is sustainable funding so that this program is in place forever. We want to achieve that because our children deserve the incredible opportunities afforded them by reading.”

Learn more at dpil-gtregion.org.