WSR Project "Imagination Library"

Dolly Parton has partnered with Penguin publishing company to offer low cost, hard bound, carefully selected titles that are development appropriate for children ages birth to 5 years. These books are mailed each month to the child's home with a total per year cost of only $30. 

Volunteers organize community sign-up events, coordinate with local agencies and raise funds to sponsor children in the program. For more information about Imagination Library, go to their website at http://www.imaginationlibrary.com/.

Research shows that a child's capacity to learn is developed as early as birth. Literacy skills such as letter names and sounds, shapes, fluency and vocabulary are developed early by listening to stories read aloud. In addition, familiarity with books and associating reading with fun are also literacy skills developed long before a child is able to read. As members of the education community have long recognized, parents reading to their preschool-aged children is the single most important activity to prepare a child for school. Learning how a book works (reading from left to right and turning pages) and 

associating pictures with words are steps to learning to read.  

However, children will benefit from the Imagination Library program in more ways than literacy skills alone. The children will also learn to love to read! "Sitting in a loved ones lap, all warm and cozy, develops a powerful association between reading and love." (from Dolly's Imagination Library brochure).