If you haven’t been in the Tumbler Ridge Library recently, you may not have seen Dolly Parton.
Yes, that Dolly Parton. The one with the hair and the big book in her hand.
Okay, so Dolly is just a two dimensional cardboard cut-out, but the reason she’s here is exciting.
As of this month, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library has come to Tumbler Ridge.
The Imagination Library provides kids from birth to their fifth birthday a new book every month.
There is no cost to the kid or their parents; all they have to do is sign up for the program at the library. For parents with multiple children, the books are different for different ages.
Parton started the Imagination Library in 1995 in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she was born.
The idea came to her as she thought of her father, Lee Parton. He was, says Parton, one of the most intelligent men she had ever known, but he had never learned how to read. Parton decided that all children—regardless of how rich or poor they were—should have access to books.
In 2006, the program came to Canada for the first time and, just this month, came to Tumbler Ridge.
Librarian Sam Petrovic says she’s exited the Library has become an affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. “We can get free, quality books into the hands of children, when their literacy development is at an early, but crucial stage,” she says. “So many studies have shown the benefits of reading early and often to young children, from strong kindergarten preparedness levels to stronger caregiver/child bonds.”
So far, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has provided over 200 million free books to kids in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland. Each month, The Imagination Library mails more than 2 million high-quality, age-appropriate books directly to children’s homes.
In Canada, the books are provided by Penguin Random House.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
