Dolly Parton Imagination Library

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library helps young children to develop their reading skills before going to school. Blochairn is registered as a “Local Champion” and we provide a free book every month for every child in our community, from birth until their 5th birthday.

There is no cost to the child’s family. It is our special gift to the child. In a way, it’s a gift to parents too. Reading with children opens up a whole new, magical world for parents!

Every book is personally addressed to each child. And a child enrolled at birth will build a library of 60 books!

Dolly Parton launched her Imagination Library in 1995 for children in her home county in East Tennessee, USA. She wanted to encourage a love of reading among preschool children and their families by providing them with the gift of a specially selected book each month. She knew that books excite children and they feel the magic that books can create. She wanted to make sure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.

Dolly was born in 1946, in Tennessee, USA. She was one of 12 children. Her father was a tobacco farmer and she grew up on rundown farm. She was inspired to set up her Imagination Library as a tribute to her father, Robert, a hardworking man who was unable to read or write.

In 2000, Dolly made the program available to any community that had a willing sponsor to support it locally and the Imagination Library has gone from just a few dozen to over 60 million books sent more than 1600 communities and 750,000 children in the United States, Canada and the UK! There are 22,000 children registered in the UK.