What is the Imagination Library? Inspires a love of reading Guarantees all children will have quality books in the home A program about inspiration and imagination Started in 1995 by Dolly Parton for the children in her hometown of Sevier County In 2000 program went nationwide

How Does the Program Work? The Dollywood Foundation partners with communities willing to bring this gift to the children of their area Children ages birth-5 who are registered with the program receive a free, age appropriate hard cover book each month from birth until the age of 5 Registration only requires the completion of a short one page registration form

The Library Books are:  New  Hard Cover  Age Appropriate  Mailed directly to the Child in his/her name First book = “Little Engine That Could” Last Book = “Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come” The first and last book includes a letter from Dolly!

Selection Process  A blue chip panel of experts select all of the titles for the Library  The Library Committee is comprised of educators, child development experts, and early childhood literacy professionals

Library Committee Marsha Gebhardt Marsha Gebhardt Project Manager, Parents as Teachers National Center John Micklos Edna Rogers John Micklos Children’s author Editor and Chief of Reading Today International Reading Association Edna Rogers Dorothy Strickland Jinx Watson National State Teacher of the Year – President Retired Kindergarten Teacher Member of Dollywood Foundation Board of Directors Dorothy Strickland Senior Research Fellow NIEER (National Institute for Early Education Research) Rutgers University Grad School of Education Jinx Watson Associate Professor – Coordinator of Youth Services School of Information Services University of Tennessee

Mailing Process All books are mailed directly to the child in his/her name The Dollywood Foundation uses its bulk mailing permit to mail all the Books The local community must partner with a 501c3 in order for the DWF to mail the books

DWF Responsibilities Select the Books Mail the books to your community’s children Invoice the community for books ordered Provide technical assistance as needed

Benefits Promotes a love of reading among children Promotes having every child’s reading ability at maximum level when they start Kindergarten Promotes parents reading to their children from birth, which has been shown to greatly improve a child’s future reading ability Promotes community bonding Promotes family bonding

Making a Difference in Clinton County Help Support a Child Be our partner in support of the CCRESA Imagination Library

Learning begins at birth

Children learn through play…

…through interactions with others…

…through interactions with the world around them…

Reading to infants, toddlers, and pre-school age children helps build their vocabulary and prepare them for school.

Research shows that a language rich environment has a critical impact on the rapid development of a child’s brain.

Our goal is to help support the literacy development of every child living in the Clinton Co. RESA service area by providing a book per month from birth to age five

$30.00! – that’s all it costs to sponsor 1 child for a year

Be Our Partner! Sponsor a Child Today The impact will last a lifetime!

Sponsor a child today! Send your tax deductible contribution to: Clinton County RESA Imagination Library 1013 S. U.S. 27, Suite A St. Johns, MI 48879

For More Information contact: Karen Black, Ken Lounds or Cindy Shinsky at CCRESA: Your support is greatly appreciated.