Dolly Parton's Imagination Library: Build Baby's Home Library for Free

Congratulations! You’ve got a little one on the way and there is so much excitement and anticipation surrounding the new arrival—what will you name the baby, how will you decorate the nursery— but, what about the little one’s library? Did you know that your child can receive a free book every month from birth until age five through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library? That’s 12 age-appropriate books a year for five years for a personal library collection of nearly 60 books by the time your child begins kindergarten.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book-gifting program that mails free books to children’s homes until they reach the age of five. Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly Parton started her Imagination Library in 1995, for the children within her home county. Today, thanks to partners and affiliate funders, her program mails more than 1.8 million free, high-quality books each month to children around the world regardless of their family’s income and is now available to every child under age 5 in Ohio.

The Literacy Cooperative is the Cuyahoga County affiliate for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and is pleased to announce that since its inception in the county, the program has mailed over 500,000 brand-new books to children. In Cuyahoga County and parts of Lake County, The Literacy Cooperative and its partners—including Shaker Library—have enrolled more than 30,000 children.

The Literacy Cooperative is an umbrella organization that brings foundations, organizations, and people together to find practical solutions to improve literacy. In addition to free children's books, families enrolled in Imagination Library receive regular emails from The Literacy Cooperative that share useful parenting tips and valuable resources in the community.

“Robust home libraries, like the ones made possible by Imagination Library, have a positive impact on family literacy habits and kindergarten readiness, and they can help support grade-level reading by third grade. We support this literacy initiative and encourage residents to share the gift of reading with the children and families in their lives,” says Shaker Library’s Youth Services Manager Shannon Fischer Titas.

Parents of children age 4½ years old and younger can enroll online at www.literacycooperative.org or by texting FREEBOOKS to 313131. Books arrive eight to ten weeks after registering and there is no cost or obligation to the child’s family. It truly is a FREE GIFT! Need more information or help? Call or visit your Shaker Library.