KSDE Weekly

Feature Story

Remind your district’s families: Every Kansas child ages birth-5 can receive free books

As the state prepares for singer-songwriter Dolly Parton’s visit and students are preparing to return to school, it is a great time to remind families that every Kansas child from birth to age 5 can receive free books every month from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. 

This is made possible through increased funding provided to the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund by Gov. Laura Kelly and the Kansas Legislature. These funds supplement local and regional resources to ensure equitable opportunity across the state. 

Parton will be visiting Pratt on Monday, Aug. 14, for a private event. Pratt was the first Imagination Library site outside of Tennessee in 2005. Kansas has more than 52,200 children enrolled and has gifted more than 3.8 million books to children since the library’s formation in Kansas in 2005. 

Parton was inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, so she started the Imagination Library to help encourage children to read. 

Each child enrolled in the program receives one book per month until his or her fifth birthday - at no cost to families. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. For more information, please visit imaginationlibrary.com.  

For more information about the Imagination Library of Kansas, visit kschildrenscabinet.org/imaginationlibrary. 

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Posted: Aug 3, 2023,
Comments: 0,
Author: Ann Bush

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