KALONA

Children of Kalona who have books on their holiday wishlists may not have to rely on Santa much longer.

Those from birth to age five living in the 52247 zip code can stop in at the Kalona Public Library starting Saturday, Dec. 2 and sign up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a free program that sends children a book each month through age five. Signing up is a simple process; parents need only provide the staff with their child’s name, birthday, address, parents’ name, phone number, and email to start receiving books.

Since launching in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) has become the preeminent early childhood book gifting program in the world. The flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has gifted over 221 million free books in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland. This is achieved through funding shared by The Dollywood Foundation and Local Community Partners.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is only available in areas where there is a local affiliate. Until 2023, there has not been an affiliate in Washington County; thanks to the efforts of Kalona resident Shirley Harland, the Kalona Public Library Foundation, Inc. has partnered with DPIL to bring the free book program to Kalona.

Dolly Parton established the program in response to her own father’s inability to read and write. She envisions that children who receive the books each month for the first years of their lives will develop a lifelong love of reading, something KPL Foundation president Valli Ruggiero also hopes. She cites a university study that found pre-K children who were regularly read to had vocabularies one million words greater than those had never had a book read to them.

“Just imagine what a boost that is going into kindergarten,” Ruggiero says.

It’s not just English-language vocabulary that has the potential to be boosted; two books a year sent out by the program are English-Spanish bilingual, giving children an opportunity to embrace an additional language early on.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is funded by The Dollywood Foundation and local donations. DPIL covers all overhead and administrative expenses, selects the books, and coordinates the monthly book order and fulfillment. As the local affiliate, the KPL Foundation, Inc., pays an average of $2.20 per child per month toward wholesale books and mailing costs; these funds have been provided through donations made by individuals, businesses, and organizations within the local community.

Children living in Kalona will soon be able to sign up online at imaginationlibrary.com, but in-person signup starts this weekend at the Kalona Public Library. Volunteers are making it easy by establishing a signup area that will be convenient for those already downtown for Christmas in Kalona. Signup forms are also available at the library and can be submitted any time.

Once kids sign up, their first book (which, for children of all ages, will be “The Little Engine That Could”) will be delivered by the US Postal Service in about six to eight weeks. For those who sign up on Dec. 2, they can expect their first book to arrive near the end of February.

Although DPIL is currently available only to children living in the Kalona 52247 zip code, Kalona Public Library director Trevor Sherping hopes that it will inspire other communities to pursue the program as well.

“I hope that it’s a great pilot program that helps it spread and gets other people interested in it,” he says.