Children in Carbon County will now have access to free, high-quality books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library thanks to the Carbon County Community Foundation and St. Luke’s University Health Network - Carbon Campuses.

The Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, carefully curated and age-appropriate books to children from birth to age 5, no matter their family’s income. Parents of children under the age of 5 who live in Carbon County or Coaldale can register for the program by visiting the Carbon County Community Foundation’s website at www.cccfoundpa.org.

Books will automatically be mailed each month to the child’s home, making it a fun reading package that kids can look forward to on a regular basis. Each child should be registered separately, as the book each receives may differ from each other.

“We are thrilled to be able to launch Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Carbon County so kids in our region can get excited about reading from a young age,” said Sharon Alexander, president of the Carbon County Community Foundation. “We have been supporting literacy programs with St. Luke’s for several years now and this is a wonderful expansion of that effort, allowing us to reach even more children.”

“The foundation has been supporting literacy programs at St. Luke’s for a number of years now. They have a ‘Reach out and Read’ program and a ‘Brush, Book, and Bed’ program which provides books to kids as part of their wellness visits. So, when it came time to renew that support, we said, ‘Let’s make it bigger and better’ and see what we can do outside of St. Luke’s offices. The team at St. Luke’s did some research, and we came up with the idea to become an affiliate of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program.”

“We’ve been involved, as Sharon pointed out, for a number of years with their programs,” said Kerri Quick, Community Health Liaison Manager for St. Luke’s.

“We’re so happy with their ‘Reach Out and Read’ program, and it’s great for the children that come to our practices. They get very excited about getting a book when they come for their appointments,” Quick said.

The “Reach out and Read” and the “Brush, Book, and Bed” programs offer books that mostly involve learning. The books from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library will be books that are going to be purely fun, books that are intended to promote the love of reading. For example, the first book each child will get will be the classic, “The Little Engine That Could.” After that, each child will receive books tailored to their own specific needs, so each child’s books may be different that what other children would receive.

Studies show the presence of books in the home supports the child’s academic, social and emotional development. Children develop a special bond with their parents and caregivers by reading together. Children who are read to early in life are better prepared for school. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has been shown to significantly increase the time parents and caregivers spend reading to their children each week.

The Carbon County Community Foundation has secured funding to support the first two years of the program, and are seeking support now to make sure it can continue to be a resource for the region. To learn more about The Imagination Library in Carbon County, please visit www.cccfoundpa.org.