Imagination Library

At Colton's first doctor's appointment back in January, I had to fill out paperwork for him. Since he was no longer in my belly, he was officially the "patient" now. It was so strange writing the word Mother under the question "what is your relationship to the patient". Since Colton's birth, he has received several packages and gifts in the mail. I love seeing packages with his name on it, because it's a simple reminder of just how "real" he is - he's actually a little person in this big world now!

Yesterday, Colton got a book in the mail - "The Little Engine That Could". It was addressed to Colton Neal and it was from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. I had heard of the imagination library, but had (in the craziness of having a baby) forgotten all about it and not signed Colton up yet. I am guessing that since Colton was born here in East Tennessee, that his name made the list from the hospital. Whoever or however he got signed up, I'm thankful. :-)

The Imagination Library was started In 1996 by Dolly Parton. She wanted to help kids in her home county of East Tennessee and foster a love of reading. Dolly started by providing a different book each month to pre-school age children and their families. She felt like mailing age-appropriate books straight to their homes would create a feeling of excitement about reading and not only create excitement but be sure that every child would have access to books, regardless of the family's income. 

In 2000, Dolly’s Imagination Library became so popular that she announced that she would make the program available to any community that was willing to partner with her to support it locally. Since the program launched in the United States, the Imagination Library has gone from just a few dozen books in East Tennessee to nearly 40,000,000 books mailed to children in the United States, Canada and even the United Kingdom. Today, over 1600 local communities provide the Imagination Library to almost 700,000 children every month. Statistics have shown that Dolly Parton's Imagination Library improves early childhood literacy for children enrolled in the program. Other studies have shown improved scores during early literacy testing.

I'm thankful that there are programs like Imagination Library available for children and I'm looking forward to seeing the new books Colton receives each month. I hope that having new books will cultivate a love of reading and encourage Colton to have a good imagination.


Comments

  1. mikeMarch 10, 2013 at 5:56 PM

    I've always thought Dolly Parton was an amazing woman, and this just reinforces that feeling. A wonderful woman that should be put in the hero class.

    ReplyDelete

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