Dolly Parton's Imagination Library comes to Larimer County

Tumble out of bed and stumble to your mailbox. Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is now available in Larimer County.

The country music singer's international children's literacy program provides one free book a month to children until they turn 5 to help inspire an early love for reading. Parents in Larimer County can enroll their children in the program through the United Way of Larimer County.

"People are really excited about the program," said Allison Hines, United Way of Larimer County's Senior Vice President of Resource Development. "This is a really great opportunity to get books in the hands of families that may not otherwise have access to them."

Any child qualifies for the program until their 5th birthday. In Larimer County alone, there are roughly 17,000 children who are eligible.

Since the program launched in Larimer County last week, over 2,000 people have registered their children for it, Hines said. They hope to have 4,200 families signed up in the program's first year.

Since the program was founded in 1995, the Imagination Library has sent over 180 million books to kids throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, according to the program's website. In 2016, the program started sending an average of 1 million books a month, and it hasn't slowed down since.

In a letter posted on the Imagination Library's website, Parton said she started the program to help support children in East Tennessee, where she grew up. Her father's inability to read inspired her dream "that all children should grow up in a home full of books" regardless of their family's income.

The Imagination Library is mostly funded through the Dollywood Foundation, supplemented by the Imagination Library of Colorado, which receives money from the state. The Dollywood Foundation selects the books and sends them directly to the child.

"The books varied greatly in subject and were always perfectly age appropriate," said Shelley Schweighauser, a Wellington resident who signed her daughter up for the program several years ago when they lived outside of Nashville. "It was such a great treat for her to receive her monthly book in the mail, addressed to her."

A large body of research exists on the program, showing that children who participated were better prepared in reading, speaking, thinking and social skills once they reached kindergarten. The program has also been proven to increase children's interest in reading once they aged out of the program. Parents who enrolled their children in the Imagination Library also reported reading to their kids more.

"Books are an incredible gift," Schweighauser told the Coloradoan in an email. "We were so grateful to have benefitted from the program."

Anyone interested in enrolling their child in the program can do so online at uwaylc.org/imaginationlibrary.

Hines said it can take six to eight weeks for kids to receive their first book.

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The Imagination Library has books in both English and Spanish. Families can request which language they'd prefer when they register online.

United Way of Larimer County is also working directly with Poudre River Public Library District to provide more books in Spanish for families throughout the county.

"We want to be sure we have options for families and what's going to be best for them," Hines said. "We know that 65 to 75 percent of families increase their reading as a result of the program, so we want to make sure we're providing materials and books in the caregiver's native language."

Editor's note: Dolly Parton's Imagination Library serves children until they turn 5 years old, not through age 5. That was misstated in an earlier version of this story.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Dolly Parton's Imagination Library comes to Larimer County