CVRL teams up with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
Published 6:07 pm Wednesday, November 24, 2021
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Kids in Farmville, Buckingham and Prince Edward can now receive a free book every month until the age of five thanks to a new partnership between the Central Virginia Regional Library (CVRL) and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Country music superstar Dolly Parton, inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, set out to create a program by which children are inspired to develop a love of reading by receiving free books from birth to age 5.
Founded in 1995 for the children within her hometown, today, Parton’s program spans five countries, gifting more than 1 million free books each month to children across the globe.
According to CVRL Director Rick Ewing, now that CVRL is an official affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, children younger than 5 in Farmville, Buckingham and Prince Edward can be signed up through the program to receive a free book mailed to their home every month. The Imagination Library carefully chooses each book to ensure it is high quality and age appropriate.
Ewing said he encourages every parent to register their preschool child for this program.
“If you read to a very young child every day, that child will be more prepared when they get to kindergarten and beyond,” Ewing said. “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library gets good books to those preschoolers every month for free.”
“When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true,” Parton has said of the program. “I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer. The seeds of these dreams are often found in books, and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world.”
All children are eligible for the program until their fifth birthday. To register a child, go to imaginationlibrary.com or stop in at the Farmville or Buckingham libraries.