Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has arrived in Ireland giving kids free books direct to their house from birth to age 5. Find out how you can get Free Books for Kids Courtesy of Dolly Parton:

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At Mykidstime we are big book fans and we love anything that encourages kids to read. So we were excited to hear that Dolly Parton’s imagination Library has arrived in Ireland and that kids are going to be able to get free books.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL) was set up to increase the number of children’s books in families’ homes. Each child receives a free book every month from birth to five, delivered directly to them at their home address.

Children who have a favourite book are more likely to become confident readers. Having books at home makes a real difference to babies’ and children’s love of stories and books.

This gives them a flying start in learning to talk and read, and extends their language – children’s vocabulary at age five is the biggest predictor of how well they do later in life.

What is Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library?

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) is an international book-gifting programme that the Childhood Development Initiative (CDI) is launching in Ireland, starting with a pilot in Dublin 24. Families who live in Dublin 24 can sign up their child from birth to five years old, and the Imagination Library will send each child a new book every month. This comes at no cost to the child’s family.

The purpose is to help local children become “reading ready” by the time they start school. Reading with young children is proven to make a big difference to their future success.

The Republic of Ireland is now the fifth country to adopt the book gifting programme.

About The Free Books

Each book is hand-selected by the Gold Medal Book Selection Committee. Titles are chosen to meet the growing needs of children at the pivotal stages of development. “TiN” by Chris Judge is the official Welcome Book and the first book sent to children in Ireland. The Committee selected “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde as the Graduation Book.

If a child is registered in the programme at birth they will have received 60 books by the time they turn five and graduate from the programme.

Where do I sign up?

You can sign up each child in your household under the age of 5 years at www.cdi.ie/imaginationlibrary. Siblings will get different age appropriate books each month.

There’s no cost to families because Dolly Parton created the Imagination Library to make books more available to young children, because early experience with reading is so important to their futures. The programme is supported by The Dollywood Foundation, combined with support from An Post and The Rotary Club, Dublin.

At the moment CDI are only delivering this programme in Dublin 24. When the DPIL expands to your area, it will be widely publicised.

The first book will arrive about 8 – 10 weeks after you sign up. Because the national organisation is so large, it takes a little while to get new addresses into their system. But once you get the first book, a new book will come regularly every month until your child’s fifth birthday.

If you have any other questions or require any further information, please contact [email protected] or visit the CDI website.

Over to you now. What do you think about this free books for kids courtesy of Dolly Parton? Tell us in the comments below.