Imagination Library
Inspire a love of reading
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five. This program fills a known gap in childhood literacy by providing reading materials to a child during the most critical years of language and cognitive development.
Each month, a new book will be mailed in your child’s name directly to your home. This program is a FREE gift to your child through our partnership with local organizations! There is no cost or obligation to your family.
"This program has been fun to complete - my child and I really enjoy reading together!" -Library Patron
Frequently Asked Questions
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library fills a known gap in childhood literacy by addressing the pre-literacy stage, beginning with board books for infants and toddlers and moving toward stories and narratives for pre-kindergarten children. Both experts and community partners have emphasized early-literacy and grade-level reading in recent years due to data showing low school readiness scores for children entering kindergarten and substandard reading scores for third graders.
Imagination Library mails more than 2 million books per month to children around the world. Visit their website to learn more about The Dollywood Foundation and this program.
Imagination Library was introduced to Marion in January 2020 by the Friends of the Marion Public Library. In the first five years, over 50,000 books were mailed to children in the 52302 zip code.
Children under the age of five who reside in Marion, Iowa.
1. Be a resident of Marion, Iowa.
2. Submit an official registration form, completely filled out by the authorized adult. Both in-person and online registration are available.
3. Notify the Marion Public Library any time your address changes. Books are mailed to the address listed on the account.
4. Read with your child and have fun!
Eight to ten weeks after your registration form has been received, books will begin arriving at your home. This will continue until your child turns five or you move out of Marion.
The Dollywood Foundation covers program overhead by providing the enrollment database and coordinating the book selection, procurement, and fulfillment processes. The Dollywood Foundation also purchases the high-quality customized books at scale, significantly reducing costs covered by the Library Foundation.
$31 provides one book each month for a year to a registered child, while $155 supports one child for all five years they are in the program. To help provide free books to children in Marion, click here to make an online gift. For donation questions, click here to contact the Marion Public Library Foundation.
Support Imagination Library
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is supported by the library, Library Foundation, Friends of the Library, and many generous community supporters. To help provide free books to children in Marion, click the button below.
