Dolly Parton Imagination Library

 

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) helps children start school ready to read and learn by providing them with a home-delivered, age-appropriate book each month until their 5th birthday. 

A tip-sheet for parents/caregivers comes with each book, with suggestions for questions to ask the child and activities related to the story. It enables the child to get greater benefit from the book than they would from just reading the story.

The program encourages parents to read regularly to their children, fostering the child’s love of books and reading, and developing their language and early literacy skills, their ability to concentrate and follow a story, and their imaginations – helping them be ready to learn when they start school. It particularly benefits children experiencing disadvantage, indigenous children, and children from non-English speaking backgrounds.

The Imagination Library project began in the Illawarra in 2014 and is managed by a committee of Illawarra Rotarians in association with DPIL license holder and not-for-profit, United Way Australia. Our community partners from organisations such as Barnardos, playgroups, and preschools offer the DPIL books to families, known to them and with babies or young children whom they believe will benefit from it. 

Numbers vary but usually 180 – 200 children are registered and receive a book each month.
The cost of each book and its postage is $9.

 

Funding is provided by Illawarra’s Rotary clubs, donations from individuals or companies, Rotary grants, registered ClubGrants and fund-raising events however initial, very generous donations from the IMB Foundation and UW Australia gave the project an excellent start. 

Since 2014, the Imagination Library Illawarra project has gifted more than 28,000 books to 1,200 children and their families.

 

If you're interested in this project or would like to make a donation to help our disadvantaged youth, contact Sue at ballyclark@bigpond.com for information.

 

• Mum A has two older children who have struggled with school, but she reports that her preschool daughter who has been receiving the books loves books. "I think she'll be fine at school. She loves books and she now loves going to the library."
• Mum B said her son has just started school after receiving the books until he was five. She is proud that he has received an award for his reading. Her younger daughter will sit and listen to the IL books and loves them. 
• Mum C: “My son at school (who received the IL books) loves reading where the older ones didn't." 
• Mum D: “This program has brought the family together like you wouldn’t believe, the big siblings reading to the little ones. It’s great”