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July 18, 2011

Building a Library . . . with Dolly Parton

I love when Jacob gets mail.  It’s rare, but it’s such a treat when it happens.  Even if he doesn’t know what mail is quite yet, I love seeing his name on a package.

 

The other day, when a copy of The Little Engine That Could arrived with his name on it, I was more than excited.  This package meant that Jacob was officially enrolled in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

 

Dolly Parton? you ask.  Imagination what now?

 

A while back, a friend sent me some information about a free book program that had been launched in New York, among other cities in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.  Dolly Parton teamed up with Penguin to create a program that would get books into the homes of preschoolers (read: children ages 0-5), regardless of their families’ income.  She started the program in her hometown, and it’s now available in any community that makes it available to all preschoolers and commits enough resources to it.  Every child’s first book with the program is The Little Engine That Could, and after that each child receives one book a month until s/he turns five.  New books are chosen each year, so if siblings are signed up, each will build his or her own unique library.

 

Luckily, New York is a participating city, and I signed Jacob up as soon as possible.  Check it out here: http://imaginationlibrary.com/ and get involved if you can!  What a great program!

 

I offered Jacob a dramatic reading of The Little Engine That Could while he ate dinner that night, and I think he liked it–lots of repetition, lots of bright colors on the pages.  I don’t think I’d read this book through as an adult, and I’ve got to say, I’m so glad to have it in our home.  I can’t wait for next month’s selection!

  1. We’ve had our son enrolled for a couple of months now. It’s so nice to get those books. And they are really nice books, too! We just got The Little Engine That Could as well!

  2. Rebecca says:

    So, I clicked on that link immediately and….we don’t have one in our area!!!! Boo! That program sounds absolutely amazing! a book every month until their 5…that’s incredible!

  3. Sara says:

    I did the same I called up the person who is the rep for our area and she told me our county is just not there yet but to check back in a couple months. This is awesome, thanks for showing us about this.

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