Dolly Parton will visit Arkansas on Thursday, May 5, to celebrate the statewide success of her Imagination Library program at a closed event hosted by Arkansas Imagination Library (ARIL). Community leaders representing Imagination Library local affiliates across the state will attend the event, along with Gov. Asa Hutchinson, statewide leaders and supporters.
Carroll County Youth Literacy Rotary Foundation chair Linda Graves, vice chair Jodie English Brown and treasurer Peggy Lodewyks will be attending.
At 6:35 p.m. Thursday, Arkansas PBS will live stream a brief musical performance by Dolly Parton and an interview with Parton and Little Rock television news anchor Craig O’Neill. The live stream will be available at: myarpbs.org/imaginationlibraryevent.
Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Parton started her Imagination Library in 1995 to foster a love of reading for the children within her home county. Children enrolled in the program receive a high-quality, age-appropriate book each month from birth to 5 years old – at no cost to families. Today, Parton’s Imagination Library gifts more than 1.9 million books each month in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland.
Since 2017, Arkansas Imagination Library has worked with Imagination Library local affiliates and communities to grow the program to all 75 counties. As a result, there are now over 57,000 children enrolled and growing quickly each month.
In Arkansas, every child under age 5 is eligible to receive this gift of a monthly book. Online enrollment is quick and simple. To enroll your child in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, go to: imaginationlibrary.com.
For more information about Arkansas Imagination Library, visit arkansasimaginationlibrary.org.