Children under 5 years old throughout Illinois are expected to receive free books through the expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program, which began in the state this summer.
Counties in Illinois will begin receiving books as they sign up through local partner programs, a spokesperson with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office said. Counties will be able to sign up based on the capacity of partner organizations.
Although the program isn’t mandatory, the governor’s office “strongly encouraged” every county in Illinois to sign up.
Over 30,000 children across 40 Illinois counties are already receiving books from the program, according to the governor’s office. Some of the counties already participating include Cook, DuPage, Kane and Sangamon.
A timeline for when the books will begin going out wasn’t immediately available.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the statewide expansion of the program Tuesday. The announcement came with the goal of providing all Illinois children under 5 years old with free books mailed to their home.
“I couldn’t be prouder to announce that Illinois is beginning its journey to provide every child under the age of 5 an opportunity to sign up and have a free book delivered to their house every month,” Pritzker said. “Research shows that early literacy makes a big difference for our youngest learners when it comes to developing language and social skills.”
Pritzker announced the partnership in June after allocating $1.6 million of this year’s budget to fund the program throughout the state.
“I am so excited to announce that Illinois is expanding my Imagination Library statewide,” Parton said in a video posted from Pritzker’s X account. “Thank you to Governor J.B. Pritzker and all our local program partners across Illinois who worked so hard to make this dream a reality.”
“Every child should have access to books at home,” said Tony Sanders, Illinois state superintendent of education. “The Dolly Parton Imagination Library and state of Illinois are removing barriers to early literacy by providing free books to our youngest readers.”
The program mails over 2.8 million books a month and has gifted over 220 million free books in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland, according to The Dollywood Foundation.
The Imagination Library launched in 1995 in Parton’s home county of Sevier County, Tennessee, and was inspired by her father’s inability to read, according to the foundation.
To check to see if a program is available in your area, visit the “Find My Program” page on www.imaginationlibrary.com. You can enroll your child or sign up to be notified when a program comes to your community.
