Want to get your child reading? An early child literacy program started by a country music icon may just be the way to go. The largest-ever shared book reading study of its kind has found Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library significantly improves early literacy for children in five countries, including Canada, with parts of the Simcoe County region lucky enough to have the program. Completely free for families, the program involves sending a book a month to every child between aged zero to five. Starting with board books for babies to picture books for toddlers, by the time the child is 5, they will have had 60 books in their hands already, a solid start to their own little library. Since the program first launched the Simcoe County chapter in October 2023 by the Kiwanis Club of Barrie, the club was giving away 100 books every month but has increased to 200 per month. In order to run, the program relies on fundraising. There are 400 chapters across Canada including Barrie, Innisfil, Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, Lake of Bays, Meaford and Muskoka West. The books lists, which have bilingual options, including Indigenous languages and that prioritize Canadian authors, get chosen by a panel made up of Canadian childhood literacy experts, like educators and librarians. The research from the study, which included 86,000 people from around the world, found the Dolly Parton Imagination Library significantly strengthens early literacy skills for children across five countries: Canada, the United States, England, Australia and Ireland. The study shows that benefits from the program include early literacy outcomes and richer reading experiences at home. It also helps to close early literacy gaps by strengthening skills like boosting children’s interest and engagement during shared book reading, whether that’s children reading to parents or vice versa. The study emphasized the power of shared reading in the earliest years of life. Dolly Parton first started the program to honour her father, who grew up in poverty and never learned to read. Anyone interested can go on the waitlist which currently sits at over 100 people.
