LAKE COUNTY, Calif– Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program administered through the Lake County Office of Education (LCOE), delivered its 50,000th free book to Lake County’s youngest residents this month.
To celebrate this milestone, LCOE’s early literacy program Bloom teamed up with the Lake County Library (LCL) to bring arts and crafts, games and even free give-away books to a special LCL story time at each library in Lake County in mid-July.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book-gifting program that mails free, age-appropriate, high-quality books to children from birth until their fifth birthday, no matter their family’s income.
Six years ago, in 2012, in an effort to improve early literacy for Lake County’s children and help prepare them for kindergarten, the Lake County Office of Education began participating in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
This year, LCOE’s Bloom continued that initiative and saw the growth of the program explode. Currently, over 2,100 Lake County children are receiving books through Imagination Library. This is approximately 56% of Lake County’s 0-5 population.
Brock Falkenberg, Lake County Superintendent of Schools, says, “Research shows that when children are read to at an early age, there is a positive parent/child connection, and it is also associated with higher measures of early language and math development.”
Although the books from Imagination Library are free for the children, there is an associated cost to the Lake County Office of Education of $25 per child, per year. This program is funded by donations from local businesses, community organizations and individuals.
Financial partners include First 5 Lake County, Lake County Wine Alliance, Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Charlotte Griswold, and Adventist Health Clear Lake.
Registration Partners include Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Adventist Health Clear Lake, Lake County Department of Social Services, Lake County Tribal Health Consortium, Dr. Barbara Gardner, Lake Family Resource Center, Women, Infants and Children (WIC), LCOE preschools, Easter Seals, and First 5 Lake County.
To find out more information about Imagination Library, or to sign up your child(ren) for free books, go to www.ImaginationLibrary.com. To make a tax deductible contribution please contact Carly Swatosh (707) 262-4163 or cswatosh@lakecoe.org
