Imagination Library program is featured

COLUMBUS — Ohio First Lady Fran Dewine recently encouraged more Ohio children to enroll in Ohio’s Imagination Library Program as a new documentary about Imagination Library founder Dolly Parton premiered, the state reported in a news release.

“The Library That Dolly Built” is a behind-the-scenes look at the Imagination Library Program country music singer Dolly Parton started in 1995 to encourage reading to preschool children.

In 2019, the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library Program partnered with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to spread the program throughout Ohio.

Partnerships and funding have been established in each of Ohio’s 88 counties, so that all children who enroll – from birth to age 5 – can receive a free book in the mail each month to help accelerate their development.

“Dolly Parton and her dedication to children’s literacy and this program is so inspiring,” Fran Dewine said in the news release.

“We share a belief that the gift of reading is one of the best things you can give a child,” she said. “We are proud of all the partners in Ohio that have ensured that every single eligible Ohio child can receive these books every month.”

Currently, 255,672 Ohio children younger than age 5, or 35% of eligible children, receive the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library books, according to the news release.

Nearly 2 million children worldwide receive free monthly books from the Imagination Library, the news release stated.

For more information about the film, visit www.imaginationlibrary.com/film

To enroll children, parents and caregivers

sign up at Ohioimaginationlibrary.org