Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is expanding in the most beautiful way for California kids

Creating the perfect reading nook for your child is one part of fostering a love of reading but the other part? Well, that’s the books, of course!

From diverse kids books to empowering picture books, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has got it all and now, they’re expanding all across California. ABC7 reports that Dolly Parton’s initiative will be providing free books starting June of 2023.

Dolly Parton’s charitable deeds are too long to count. She’s donated to everything from Covid vaccines to children’s music education. Now, the legendary singer’s Imagination Library program will mail a new book to every child under the age of five every month. More than 2.4 million children will be eligible to participate across the state of California.

“I’m so thrilled at the overwhelming support to make my Imagination Library available to every child in California!” Dolly shared. “I want to thank Senator Shannon Grove and Senator Toni Atkins for inspiring tremendous support from California legislators and Governor Gavin Newsom for enthusiastically signing this bill. Today is an amazing milestone for children and families across the state! We still have a lot of work to do, but together we can inspire a love of reading in children across California that will last a lifetime,” Parton says.

Reading aloud to kids helps their brains thrive. Even if your child doesn’t yet understand, there are so many benefits including character and cognitive development. Plus, reading is a great way to help your child connect with hard topics. Adding diverse books to their bookshelf is a simple way to help them wrap their minds around difficult historical moments. First day of school books or even books about potty training, can also help them deal with big emotions.

Register your child with the program in order to start receiving books. To check if the Imagination Library program is in your area, all you have to do is input your zip code, state, city and county. If it’s available, you continue registering but, if it’s not, then you can provide your email in order to be notified when or if it does become available in the future.

Parton started the program as a tribute to her father. A man, she says, wasn’t able to fulfill his dreams because of his inability to read.

“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.”