It may take up to a week for the Coalition to process your application. To speed up the approval process, be sure to include an accurate phone number and email address. You will receive an email from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library when your registration is approved. Depending on when your child was registered, it may take up to three months for the first book to arrive. After that, books will come every month until your child’s fifth birthday.

Your privacy is important to the Coalition and to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and will not be used to solicit you. The information you provide when you register your child will only be used to provide you with requested services; to respond to your inquiries; and to notify you about other free Coalition information, activities, and events you may be interested in. Your information will never be sold.

It is important to include a phone number on your application so the Coalition can contact you if there are any questions when processing your application or issues with delivery of your child’s books.

It will take two to three months to receive your first book. After that, books will come each month until your child’s fifth birthday.

Children receive an age-appropriate book each month based on the year they were born. Each child within the same age group receives the same book. For example, babies will receive board books with little text and nurture and attachment themes, while four year olds will receive softcover picture books with more complex concepts to help them prepare for kindergarten. To see a full list of books, visit https://imaginationlibrary.com/usa/book-list/.

Twins will receive the exact same book each month. The books will be personally addressed to each child, so they will each build their own library of quality books.

Congratulations! Your application requires your child’s birth date. As soon as your baby is born, you can register. It will take about two months to receive your first book.

Your excitement for helping to inspire of love of reading is appreciated! Since the application includes a consent form, only a child’s legal guardian may enroll children in the program. Please help spread the word to parents/guardians and encourage them to register their children who are under five years old.

All Imagination Library books are selected by the Imagination Library’s Blue Ribbon Book Selection Committee. These specially selected early childhood literacy experts review hundreds of potential titles for inclusion in the program. The Committee takes great care in choosing books that meet the different needs of children as they progress from birth to age five, ensuring each child receives an age-appropriate book. The book list is updated each year. To learn more about the Book Selection Committee and the book characteristics they consider, visit https://imaginationlibrary.com/usa/choosing-our-books/.

When you registered your child, you should have received an email from the Imagination Library with a link and instructions to login to your parent account. You may need to check your spam/junk email folder to find the email. To access your online parent account, use your email address as your user name. If your link has expired or is invalid, request a new link at www.imaginationlibrary.com. If you do not know or have forgotten your password, use the “New Password/Forgot Password” link on the login page.

In your parent account, you can check your child’s registration status, edit your address and contact information, access the Coalition’s contact information, and see which books have been mailed each month.

To keep program costs low, books are mailed third class and are not forwarded. You can log in to your online parent account and change your address. If you are moving outside of Marion County, you will need to see if the program is available in your new community. If so, your account will be transferred to your new local program partner.

Once your address has been updated, it may take up to two months for books to be shipped to your new address.

Please allow two to three months from the time you register or change your address to begin receiving books. If you still have not received your books or you were receiving them but they have stopped, please contact the Coalition at DPIL@ELC-Marion.org or 352-369-2315 Option 8 for assistance. Your child’s last book will be in the month he or she turns five.

Please contact your local Postmaster and report the damage and see if there is anything he/she can do to prevent this in the future.

Some of the program books are bilingual (English/Spanish). The Imagination Library is working to expand the selection of bilingual books. To see a full list of books, including the bilingual options visit https://imaginationlibrary.com/usa/book-list/.

Through a partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, American Printing House (APH), and Penguin Group, USA, a growing collection of Imagination Library books are available for parents and children with visual impairments. Visit APH.org to learn more about free downloadable children’s audiobooks and Braille Tales books free for eligible families and available at a low cost to others.

The Imagination Library is made possible through funding from Dolly Parton, the Coalition, and community partners and is free for all registered children. The Dollywood Foundation covers overhead costs, administrative needs, and publisher negotiations. The Coalition secures funding for the wholesale cost of books, postage, and local program management. All funding raised locally allows more Marion County children to receive books. In 2025, the average Coalition cost per mailed book is $2.60, or $31.20 per child per year. To donate to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Marion County, visit our Donate page.

As Dolly Parton says, “You can never get enough books into the hands of enough children.”

In 2023, only 49% of Marion County kindergartners were “ready for kindergarten” based on the Florida Department of Education’s assessment administered in the first 30 days of school. In 2024, only 43% of Marion County third graders were reading at or above grade level.

Regularly reading with children is the single most important way to help them prepare to learn to read. When parents and caregivers read to children, it exposes them to a larger, more diverse vocabulary and greater variety of sentence structures than just talking to them. Children develop concepts of print, alphabetic knowledge, phonological awareness, and improved memory – all essential skills leading to school readiness and future academic success.

Dolly believes that if you can read, you can do anything, dream anything, and be anything. She wants children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. And, she wants to ensure that every child can have high quality, age-appropriate books, regardless of their family’s income. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library levels the playing field for all children by helping them build a home library of their very own and encouraging increased interaction with parents and caregivers around books and reading.

Yes! The Coalition depends on local community support to ensure all eligible Marion County children can build a high-quality home library. In 2025, the average cost per mailed book is $2.60, or $31.20 per child per year. To donate to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Marion County, visit our Donate page.

Log in to your online parent account and click the > next to your child’s name. Click “Stop Book Delivery.” Enter the requested information from your child’s book label and confirm that you want to cancel your child’s enrollment. Due to ordering and shipping schedules, your child may receive two more books before delivery stops.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is the flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation.

In 1995, The Foundation implemented Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Sevier County, Tennessee, Dolly Parton’s home county, as a tribute to Dolly’s father who was unable to read. This monthly book gifting program for children under the age of five was designed to inspire a love of reading and learning for all preschool children in the county. What was founded as a local program became such a success that in 2000 a national replication effort was underway, and by 2003 Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library had mailed one million books. It would prove to be the first of many millions of books sent to children around the world.

Dolly’s home state of Tennessee pledged to pursue statewide coverage in 2004 and shortly after, global expansion was on the horizon. After the United States, the program launched in Canada in 2006 followed by the United Kingdom in 2007. Australia’s program was launched in 2013 with the Republic of Ireland joining in 2019.

By early 2023, the total books gifted globally since inception reached its 200 million milestone! Over three million books are mailed monthly. In the USA, one out of every seven children under the age of five receive an Imagination Library book from Dolly each month in every state.