History of Dolly’s Imagination Library

In 1996, Dolly Parton launched an exciting new effort to benefit the children of her home county in east Tennessee. Dolly wanted to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families. She wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. Moreover, she could insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.

So she decided to mail a brand new, age appropriate book each month to every child under 5 inSevier County. With the arrival of every child’s first book, the classic The Little Engine That Could ™, every child could now experience the joy of finding their very own book in their mail box. These moments continue each month until the child turns 5—and in their very last month in the program they receive Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come.

(Excerpt taken from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library www.imaginationlibrary.com)

The Lee County Partnership for Children has been named the Local Champion for this program in Lee County and is in charge of all aspects of it, from signing children up to funding efforts.

The Lee County Imagination Library is available to ALL children who are residents of Lee County from birth to the age five. Each child will receive one age-appropriate book per month until his/her fifth birthday, after registration is complete. If a child is signed up at birth, he/she will have received 60 books in all, upon exit from the program.

The Lee County Imagination Library is completely community funded. Local donations, pledges, and grants from individuals and/or organizations will be needed to sustain the Imagination Library in Lee County. The cost of books and mailing per child per month is $2.34. That’s only $28.08 to sponsor one child for a whole year!

To learn more about funding for the Imagination Library please visit our funding page.