Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is a book gifting program that posts free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family's income.
Our objective is to bring Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to the Isle of Man.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is a book gifting program that posts free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family's income.
Our objective is to bring Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to the Isle of Man.
Parents or carers register their baby or child under five with the Isle of Man Imagination Library.
The books are addressed to the child and delivered to the child's registered address by Isle of Man Post each month.
The books are selected by a panel of experts to be age-appropriate.
Every child receives a copy of 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' as their welcome book. The graduation book, received the month a child turns five, is 'Just Imagine' by Pippa Goodhart and Nick Sharratt. Both these books are special editions with a message from Dolly inside the cover.
Apart from the welcome and graduation books, children born in the same calendar year will receive the same book each month.
Approximately half the titles are changed each year, so younger siblings participating in the programme, will generally receive different books.
View the Imagination Library booklist for this year
All books in the Imagination Library are published by Penguin Random House
and carefully
selected by a panel of experts in early childhood development and reading.
A child enrolled from birth will build their own home library of 60 books.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is expanded into each new area by a local
partner - this where we come in! We, the Isle of Man Imagination Library, are responsible
for raising the funds to cover the cost of the
books (plus postage and packaging) for the children of the Isle of Man.
The Dollywood Foundation provides the core infrastructure and coordinates the programme, and through their subsidy and economies of scale, create excellent value for money.
We need to raise just £26 per year for each child under 5 years old, on the Isle of Man.
For this we receive approximately £133 worth of books and service, due to the support and economies of scale provided by The Dollywood Foundation.
That's an immediate Return on Investment of 411%!
The impact on child development remains until at least Key Stage 2. Children who received Imagination Library books surpassed their peers in meeting the Key Stage 1 'Expected Standard', even when socio-demographic factors were taken into account:
Participation increases
success by
20%
Participation increases
success by
19.7%
Participation increases
success by
16.2%
Findings from 'Books Babies and Bonding: the impact of Dolly Parton's
Imagination Library on parental
engagement in book-sharing with children 0-5 years old'
Dr Caroline Zwierzchowska-Dod
PhD, funded by
Swansea University and The Dollywood Foundation, May 2022
With the convenience of free books delivered right to their door, parents and caregivers are gently nudged to engage in the magical world of storytelling with their child. Feedback from parents emphasises the profound bonding experiences that arise from reading together. The books serve as a catalyst for meaningful interactions, strengthening the parent-child relationship and deepening mutual understanding
"We read more often" 88%
"We share the books with older and younger siblings in our family" 92%
"I enjoy reading with my child more" 93%
"My child looks forward to the books arriving" 98%
"The books have helped develop my child's speech and language" 97%
"My child is enthusiastic to share books with me" 99%
When the age of the child, number of children in the family, parental education, ethnicity and gender were taken into account, Families receiving Imagination Library books are around 30% more likely to read daily than other families surveyed.
Findings from 'Books Babies and Bonding: the impact of Dolly Parton's
Imagination Library on parental
engagement in book-sharing with children 0-5 years old'
Dr Caroline Zwierzchowska-Dod
PhD, funded by
Swansea University and The Dollywood Foundation, May 2022
The impact extends beyond individual families, to benefits for our island community at large. Shared experiences strengthen social cohesion and create community bonds. The island community collectively funding free books to under 5s increases the Isle of Man's value proposition as a great place to live.
Children born in the same calendar
year receive the same books, creating shared experiences among peers and the
potential to foster
powerful interactions within our community.
"the Imagination Library connects my son to his peers because everyone has
the same book"
All under 5s in the Isle of Man will be eligible regardless of family income.
The programme's universality is seen as egalitarian and a 'levelling-up' experience.
No-one should feel like they are receiving charity and equally there is no
'squeezed-middle' who are
finding their family finances stretched but are ineligible.
We hope to work with nurseries and the local 'bricks and mortar' libraries, who can
use the books to foster links
between their settings and homes.
The Imagination Library is dedicated to inspiring a lifelong love of reading.
The Imagination Library programme not only yields immediate value but, by targeting early years education and ultimately resulting in a better educated workforce, offers a remarkable long-term return on investment.
Reading for pleasure is a greater indicator of a child's future educational success than their family's socio-economic status including their parents' educational backgrounds and income.
The Heckman Curve shows that "the highest rate of economic return comes from investing as early as possible in children, from birth through age five, in disadvantaged families".
Research commissioned by 'Small Steps Big Changes' compared families' socioeconomic characteristics and suggests that Dolly Parton's Imagination Library could considerably enhance disadvantaged children's love of books, parent-child interactions and future academic outcomes. Narrowing the gap between them and their better-off counterparts in the city of Nottingham.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is expanded into each new area by a local partner. We, the Isle of Man Imagination Library, are responsible for raising the funds to cover the cost of the books (plus postage and packaging) for the children of the Isle of Man.
Based on the latest census and birth rate data we have estimated that to fund books for all eligible children, we need to raise approximately £85,000 per year.
Ideally, we would like to sufficient secure funds so that every child who registers is guaranteed to 'graduate' the programme, this would require approximately £250,000 for all currently eligible children.
Our initial goal is to raise £55,000.
This will cover one year's costs for an expected uptake of 65% of eligible children. £55,000 would deliver 25,384 books into the hands of Manx children.
Once we have met this initial goal, we will open registrations for children.
If you feel this is a valuable programme and would like to help us bring it to the Isle of Man, please consider donating if you can.