A small group consisting of Joanne McMahon, Kate Coutts, and Caroline Boddy are working together to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to the Flagstaff Region.

Created for children up to age five, The Imagination Library puts books into the hands of children around the world, partnering with local communities to provide a hand-selected, age-appropriate, high-quality book to registered children from birth to age five.

This program is the flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation, created in 1988 by Parton to inspire children in the US to achieve educational success.

The Imagination Library was implemented first in 1995 in Parton’s native Tennessee. It was such a success that it branched out nationally in 2000, and had mailed out its first million books by 2003.

The program launched in Canada in 2006, followed by the UK in 2007, to Australia in 2013, and the Republic of Ireland in 2019.

Since the initial launch, The Imagination Library has now mailed out more than 100 million books to children, sending out 1.4 million each month.

The Foundation says that the impact of the program has been widely researched and results suggest positive increases in key early childhood literacy metrics.

McMahon says she got wind of the program years ago when visiting her native Virginia. “I searched at that time, but it was nowhere in Alberta yet,” she says.

McMahon has a close connection to literacy, she delivers a program called Building Blocks to Flagstaff families.

She has always loved reading, and remembers as a child her uncle and aunt from Galahad enrolled her in a book-of-the-month-club. One day, when she, her aunt, and her brother stopped at the Galahad Post Office, a new book had arrived.

Unfortunately, on the trip back home, their vehicle left the road and rolled over. Everyone was okay, but as help arrived, all McMahon can remember is yelling, “Get my book!” which was still in the car.

McMahon approached Coutts, who said she didn’t have to even think about it, she said “Yes!” immediately. “I love to read, and I know how important reading and reading to children is. I’m all over this,” she said.

Coutts is a Grade 3 teacher in Killam, and she encourages her students to read, hoping to lead by example. This year she has set a goal of reading 100 books, and is well on her way to exceeding that goal.

“Now we need a third,” said McMahon, and approached Caroline Boddy, a 4-H leader and volunteer with the Forestburg Library, who successfully home-schooled her children. Boddy came on board immediately, and she has been instrumental in getting the library involved, too. Boddy has been involved in the Interactive Play Program which runs in the Forestburg Library, and is a strong literacy advocate herself.

Boddy made a presentation to the Alliance Women’s Institute earlier this year, and that group generously donated $200 after hearing about The Imagination Library, officially turning this from a dream to reality.

Coutts has been busy sending out letters to service clubs in the region, hoping to garner even more financial support.

McMahon says there are presently 445 eligible children from birth to age five in Flagstaff, and that every child, assuming they sign up, could receive one book a month for as little as $3.55 per book to the group.

Participants don’t pay anything, the cost is covered by community champions who support the program financially. The cost of each book is bourne by the Dollywood Foundation, local groups need only cover the costs of shipping and mailing.

“There’s no income requirement either,” says McMahon. “The program is free to all.”

Publisher Penguin Random House is an important partner in the program, and supplies all the books.

A book selection committee in each country chooses books for the entire year from their catalogue. “There are Canadian authors included in the books, too!” says McMahon.

Besides the thrill of getting something in the mail every single month with their name on it, McMahon says, “It’s their book. That’s pretty special.”

She says that she’s talked to quite a few families about it, whose first worry is cost. “When I tell them there’s no cost to them, then they get very excited. This program removes the financial barriers to providing children with age-appropriate good-quality books.”

The cost to operate the program is relatively low. McMahon says based on participation rates provided by the imagination library project, the program could run for five years if the steering committee can raise just over $10,000. That’s a huge impact for a relatively small price tag, considering that would mean hundreds of books going into the hands of Flagstaff kids over that five years.

“The Imagination Library helps to instill a love of reading, helps create bonds with parents when children are read to, and helps prepare a child for school,” they say.

Boddy says that the Forestburg Library has offered to collect names of those interested in signing up to receive books.

McMahon says the next few months will be used to find sponsors, and getting the program ready to go.

They are hoping to get started this October, and plan to throw a launch event to get things off the ground in a big way.

All three are very excited about the program.

McMahon says, “It brings me back to being five-years-old. I remember how excited I was each month.

“I know the difference reading to children makes, and it’s something near and dear to my heart.”

Coutts adds, “I find the best way to entice kids to read is to share with them how much I love reading.

“It’s so rewarding when families spend time reading together, and it really helps kids when they come to school.”

Boddy says, “Reading creates really awesome bonding moments with everyone of all ages.

“I love being read to still,” she adds.

Parton started The Imagination Library as a tribute to her father, who never learned 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 one million children.

“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.”

Anyone interested in joining up, donating funds, or learning more can get in touch with the steering committee via email at: ImaginationLibraryFC@gmail.com, or to PO Box 44, Galahad, T0B 1R0.

For individual wishing to support this program as an individual, The Community Press has partnered with the steering committee to collect donations of any amount through our Killam office, similar to what is done with Christmas Sharing and Red Cross fundraising efforts. All funds will go directly to the Steering Committee.

Read the full story in the July 15 edition of The Community Press – buy the single issue online below:

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Leslie Cholowsky
Editor