Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library now available in Logan County

Children ages 0-5 living in Logan County now have an opportunity to receive a free book every month. Early Childhood Council of Logan, Phillips and Sedgwick Counties celebrated the launch of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Logan County on Sunday at Sterling Public Library.

While attendance at the kickoff event was small, there is already great interest.  During the event, Stacey Zink, ECCLPS coordinator, announced that they had already signed up 192 children.

Since launching in 1995, DPIL has become the premier early childhood book gift programming in the world by mailing well over 90 million free books in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Currently, the program mails over one million specially selected, age-appropriate books monthly to registered children from birth to age five.

Dolly’s vision was to create a lifelong love of reading, prepare children for school and inspire them to dream. Recent studies suggest participation in the Imagination Library program is positively and significantly associated with higher measures of early language and math development.

Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

Zink thanked those who are sponsoring DPIL in Logan County, including Highline Electric Association, Basin Electric Cooperative, CoBank and DPIL Colorado.

She also explained how the program works. Parents of children ages 0-5 in Logan County can visit the DPIL website, https://imaginationlibrary.com/, to register. Zink noted ECCLPS is only affiliated with the program in Logan County, but it is available in Phillips and Sedgwick Counties through other agencies.

Once an official registration form is submitted, every child will receive the same first book, “The Little Engine that Could” by Watty Piper. Each book contains reading tips and ideas on how to enhance learning for children. The book should arrive at your home in eight to 10 weeks, however those who attended Sunday’s launch celebration were given the book then.

“It just depends on how backed up and busy they are, if you’re not getting it, not receiving it, you can give us a call and we’ll look into it and see if there is some sort of a glitch,” Zink said.

She concluded her remarks by sharing a letter written by Dolly Parton that is posted on the DPIL website.

“Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my Daddy. He was the smartest man I have ever known but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams,” Parton wrote.

“Inspiring kids to love to read became my mission. In the beginning, my hope was simply to inspire the children in my home county but here we are today with a worldwide program that gives a book a month to well over 1 million children,” she said. “Of course, I have not done this alone. The real heroes of our story are the thousands of local organizations who have embraced my dream and made it their own. They raise millions of dollars each year and wake up every day with a passion to make sure their kids have every opportunity to succeed.

“It’s been quite a journey but we have so much more left to do. I would love for your community to join our family so please take the time to explore our website. Let’s share this dream that all children should grow up in a home full of books,” Dolly wrote.  “The first step is always the hardest, but you’ll never know unless you try…”

Following Zink’s remarks, author Kelsey Edwards, a Sterling High School graduate who also attended Caliche Schools, gave a reading of her children’s book, “The Traveling Imagination,” which is now available on Amazon. She was joined by her son, Christian, who inspired the book about a child who goes on an adventure to Japan, Mexico and other places to save the day and play, play, play.

At the conclusion of the event, ECCLPS passed out swag bags and root beer and coke floats.

To learn more about DPIL, visit https://imaginationlibrary.com/ or call ECCLPS at 970-526-2440.