AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
A statewide program that gives free books to young children recently reopened to help turn kids into young readers.
Read more Feds select UNC for military program once hosted by Ivy League schools
The Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library provides books to children ages 0 to 5, one a month, mailed to their homes for free. The program’s been in North Carolina for several years but paused accepting new children in January 2025 due to capacity.
The program reopened this summer, allowing families to register their children for free books.
“We want children to love books so that they can expand their knowledge,” said Denise Rossi, early literacy program specialist for Wake County Smart Start. “We want them to increase their vocabulary. We want them to learn about the world around them. We want them to learn about themselves and their feelings, and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has beautiful books that are age-appropriate for every age group that is involved in the program.”
There are nearly 3.2 million children registered in the program, which grew out of Parton’s desire to give back to our local community. The Imagination Library began in 1994 in her home county in Tennessee and now serves children in five countries. North Carolina was the first state the program expanded to after Tennessee.
“By the time a child is 5, up to 90% of the brain is formed, and language and literacy is that vehicle that we use to help stimulate the brain, to stimulate imagination,” said Gayle Headen, executive director of Wake County Smart Start.
Children, from birth to 5, are able to get an age-appropriate book mailed to their homes every month, free of charge.
Read more NCHSAA names new commissioner to succeed Que Tucker, run public school athletics
The program is available throughout North Carolina with help from the North Carolina Partnership for Children and its local Smart Start organizations, which enrolls children in the program.
“It’s a program to get them started working on their early literacy skills, fostering their love of reading, working with families on the importance of boding with their child over a book so they’re ready for Kindergarten,” Rossi said.
Children can enroll directly on the Imagination Library website, imaginationlibrary.com/check-availability, or at the website for local Smart Start group.
The books are free to all children, regardless of income. That means there is a maximum amount of children, about 300,000, that can be served at one time, Headen said.
“The previously enrolled and active children at that time continued receiving books without interruption, but we paused any new enrollments to make room for natural attrition, primarily by children turning 5 and aging out of the program,” she said.
Read more After 119 years, Durham’s Black-owned bank to be sold and renamed in merger