After Canadian families began receiving books each month in 2006, the global expansion of Dolly’s Imagination Library continued in England in 2007. One of the goals of the popular book gifting organization is to create a love of reading in all kids all over the world, as a result, The Dollywood Foundation of the United Kingdom was launched and the Imagination Library was made available to new families in Britain.
Penguin Books UK was named the exclusive publisher for the collection, the Royal Mail was used for monthly deliveries, and a wonderful panel of experts gathered to choose the best selection of book titles.
In November, Dolly announced to a Toronto audience that the “Book Lady” was about to begin Imagination Library book deliveries in Canadian communities. For the first time, the program crossed a border with the goal of instilling a love for reading in all children worldwide.
The Dollywood Foundation of Canada secured an agreement with the Canadian-based organization, Invest in Kids, to help bring books to as many Canadian preschoolers as possible.
This year, many initiatives were successful in terms of geography and growth. For example, Michigan representatives, inspired by many of the surrounding communities, providing Imagination Library books, appropriated $500,000 for school districts to match in order to provide a “book a month” program. This $1,000,000 would be largely devoted to the program and significantly expanding the effort across the state.
The total number of books distributed climbed to over 3 million. Since the beginning, over 7 million books have been mailed to children.
Dolly and her not-for-profit Dollywood Foundation present the Chasing Rainbows Award annually to a teacher who has overcome adversity. Dolly was the first recipient in 2002. The award is given under the banner of the National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY), a not-for-profit organization that seeks to improve student learning across the nation by defining, sharing and advocating for effective teaching practices and policies. Dolly’s Imagination Library is an official partner organization of the NNSTOY.
Edna Rogers, Director of the Dolly Parton Chasing Rainbows Award, also was the person who honored Dolly with the award in 2002,
“Dolly has overcome many obstacles in her life and is making a difference in the lives of children... Now Dolly, in turn, gives this award personally every year to a teacher who has overcome obstacles in his/her life and is making a difference in the lives of children.”
Each winner spends a week as Dolly’s guest at her Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, TN, and his/her name is inscribed on a plaque inside her Chasing Rainbows Museum at the park. NNSTOY selects the annual recipient.
In 2001, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library saw program expansion with 27 affiliates operating in 11 states across the nation. Local sponsors around the country came forward to support the program's expansion, including Spartanburg, Sioux Falls and Sioux City, which seeded the program within their United Way organizations. These new communities mailed books to almost 30,000 children under the age of five, proving that dreams really do come true.
National Networks such as Parents as Teachers, Public Libraries and school systems were also extremely active in promoting the program's epxnasion for immediate exposure as well as future endeavors. Further financial support came from the Annie E. Casey Foundation that provided a significant grant to help The Dollywood Foundation design a research project to assess the impact of the program on families and their participating communities.
In 2000, the Imagination Library took a bold step forward in the campaign to inspire a love of reading and made the program available for national replication. Always leading off with Dolly’s favorite title, “The Little Engine That Could,” this millennial expansion was the start of delivering this popular favorite as well as more quality books into the homes of many more children.
The Dollywood Foundation was focused on the further development of this program and promoting it throughout the entire country. Sponsors and community champions began to emerge across the country to finance the cost of the books and the mailing expense. Locally managed and designed to reflect the unique personality of the community, each operating Affiliate is responsible for the program’s longevity.
Throughout the year, negotiations continued with publishers to improve the quality of the individual titles while maintaining if not lowering, the cost. Combining Affiliate strategies and ongoing analytics brought more attention to early human growth, through studies on brain research, language skills, motor development, socialization or literacy skills, confirming that the years between birth and five are the most critical time in the development of a child.
