Gov. Janet Mills came to the Bangor Public Library on Wednesday morning to launch the statewide expansion of a program that will provide free books to young kids in partnership with an organization started by singer-songwriter Dolly Parton.
Maine has become the 20th state where all young kids can benefit from Parton’s Imagination Library, which mails free, high-quality and age-appropriate books to children each month regardless of their family’s income. It’s open to kids from birth to the age of five.
Kids in some Maine communities could previously use the program, but the Legislature provided $200,000 to expand the program statewide as part of the budget passed last year.
The program will offer free books to thousands of Maine children. Families can enroll them through the nonprofit’s website.
During the Wednesday morning event, Mills read “The Little Engine that Could” to kids who’d gathered for storytime at the Bangor Public Library.
Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995 in honor of her illiterate father, Mills said. The program began as a way to distribute books to the impoverished Tennessee county where Parton grew up.
Tennessee soon expanded the program statewide, and since then, the nonprofit has grown to offer free books to children in five countries: the U.S., Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
As of June 2022, the Imagination Library has gifted more than 184.6 million books to more than 2 million children across the nation. More than 4,500 Maine children already receive free books through 12 local partners.
The Maine State Library and the Dollywood Foundation have partnered for the statewide expansion, with an immediate goal of enrolling 65 percent — nearly 64,000 — of eligible children as quickly as possible, according to Dollywood Foundation Regional Director Lauren Wirt.
Alexa Gash of Bangor, who brought her 18-month-old daughter, Luciana Gash, to storytime on Wednesday, was thrilled to hear Parton’s nonprofit is expanding in Maine.
Originally from Tennessee where the nonprofit began, Gash’s older daughter received free books through Parton’s organization. But Gash discovered she was unable to register Luciana to receive books after the family moved to Maine in July 2022.
Gash said her family still cherishes the books her older daughter received through the program and is excited for her younger daughter to experience the same joy.
Mills said Wednesday she hopes the Imagination Library’s statewide expansion will boost the childhood literacy rate and help families spend quality time with their children.
“My mother introduced me to the library, encouraged me to read books of every kind, and instilled in me a lifelong love of reading,” Mills said. “I’m thrilled to help expand the Dolly Parton Imagination Library across our state so that thousands of Maine children can strengthen their reading skills and learn to love reading.”
Mills said she chose to read “The Little Engine that Could” because it’s both her and Parton’s favorite children’s book, it’s the first book children receive once enrolled in the program and it teaches children about perseverance.