Re-Imagining Literacy for All Children

Finally, New York City has decided to jump aboard the Imagination Library train!

The Imagination Library promotes literacy and language development by mailing one book per month to any child who is enrolled, from the time they are born, until age five.

The program was started in 1996 by country music singer Dolly Parton to benefit the children of her home county in east Tennessee. Dolly wanted to foster a love of reading and for children to be excited about books, regardless of their family’s income. She also wanted children to relish the moments when parents could spend quiet time reading to them.

So she decided to mail a brand new, age-appropriate book each month to every child under 5 in her home county. With the arrival of every child’s first book, the classic The Little Engine That Could ™, every child could now experience the joy of finding their very own book in their mail box. In their very last month in the program they receive Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come.

Soon, other communities were clamouring to bring the Imagination Library to their children. Since, then, Dolly's foundation culled a blue ribbon panel of experts to select just the right books, secured Penguin Group USA to be its exclusive publisher, and developed a database to keep track of the information and children's progress.

March 2000 marked the official launch of the national program where now, other communities could request to bring the Imagination Library to their children, as long as they made the commitment to pay for the cost of the books and the shipping. Dolly's foundation would handle the rest.

Ten years after the program's launch, New York City has decided to jump on board. The NYC Imagination Library is an initiative of the New York City Department of Education.

Parents can enroll their preschool-aged child (age 0 to 5 yrs) in the NYC Imagination Library here, and a new, carefully selected, age-appropriate book will be mailed each month in the child’s name directly to the family’s home.

Books will begin arriving six to eight weeks after a registration form has been received, and will continue every month until the child turns five. Children are eligible for this program as long as they live within the five boroughs of NYC.

Along with the free books, the NYC Imagination Library provides a free Early Literacy Workshop Series for Parents in effective read-aloud strategies. Space is limited, so parents need to first register for the program and then call (718) 642-5791, if they are interested in enrolling in the free training program.