Country Superstar Dolly Parton has always believed in the power of reading in a young child’s life. Through her Imagination Library, she gives free books to children from birth through age 5, writes Ashley Adams for The Keystone.

Here in Pennsylvania, her program has 54 affiliates, including one in the Kutztown Area School District. The mission of the program started in 1995 is to inspire a love of reading in kids before they even start school.

School districts just need to sign up to be an affiliate of the Imagination Library and then the program will mail free age-appropriate books to registered children in the district, regardless of income.

In the Kutztown area, 355 children are registered in the program and 171 children have just graduated out of it. The program launched here in 2021.

“We have been very pleased with the impact of the program,” said Rikki DeVough, who runs the program for the Kutztown School District.

“All the feedback has been positive, nothing negative. And the list of registered children in Kutztown continues to grow every year.”

Throughout the country, Imagination Library has more than 2,700 local affiliates and has gifted more than 226 million free books to children around the world.

Read how to get involved with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Program in The Keystone.

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