First Lady DeWine celebrates Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio reaching record number of Ohio children

2/12/2024

Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine announced new records regarding participation in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio: 60% of Ohio’s eligible children – from birth to age 5 – enrolled in the program in January, which means 400,611 children received the books.    

Dolly Parton came to Ohio in 2022 to celebrate Ohio’s aggressive push to make Imagination Library books available to young children in every Ohio village, township, city, and county.

First Lady DeWine also announced that more than 15 million Imagination Library books have been mailed to Ohio children since 2019, when Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio was first established. Prior to the statewide program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was available in pockets of the state, with only 13% of eligible children enrolled.

Ohio continues to have the most children enrolled in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program among U.S. states. In total, 770,294 children in Ohio either are currently participating in or have participated in the program during the past five years.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio has 70 local program partner organizations that administer the program at the county-level, covering half of the book cost. Funding from the other half of the book cost comes from the Ohio General Assembly, ensuring the program remains free for all Ohio families.

Caregivers can enroll children under the age of 5 by visiting OhioImaginationLibrary.org.

The Imagination Library is the flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation, Dolly’s nonprofit organization founded in 1988. The Imagination Library has become the preeminent, early childhood book-gifting program in five countries. Inspired by her father’s inability to read or write, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading and learning by gifting books, free of charge to families.