Dolly Parton’s free book program plans to expand in Tarrant, improve early literacy
Dolly Parton’s international program that provides free books to children ages 0-5 has rapidly expanded in Tarrant County with plans to grow even further.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has served more than 11,000 Tarrant County children with more than 450,000 books for almost 20 years with a mission to improve early literacy. United Way of Tarrant County, the local provider of the program, oversees the distribution of the titles for families based on their ZIP code. Children receive a book a month in the mail, in addition to an extra title given when they first enroll, at no cost. This includes bilingual books in English and Spanish.
The local program faced headwinds at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s bounced back since, surpassing the reach it had before 2020, said Chris Alvarado, vice president of community investment at United Way of Tarrant County. It’s also expanded from 20 ZIP codes to 47.
There are currently more than 6,100 children enrolled, which changes month to month. The goal is to reach 10,000 children within the next 18 months, Alvarado said.
“Our focus is about making sure that kiddos have a literacy-focused environment at home, and then also help prepare them for kindergarten. Kindergarten readiness is an important threshold to meet,” Alvarado said.
The first book given to enrolled children is “The Little Engine That Could,” and the final book given is “Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!”
The slated expansion of the local program comes at a pivotal time in Tarrant County’s literacy landscape.
Districts in Tarrant County have grappled with an ongoing literacy crisis for years, including in the Fort Worth Independent School District where 41% of third-graders are reading on grade level in Tarrant’s largest school district.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker called on Fort Worth ISD in August 2024 to turn around its stagnant academic performance. Since then, the district named literacy its top priority; county officials called on all Tarrant school districts to develop plans ensuring all students read on grade level; and two state takeovers have taken shape in the Fort Worth and Lake Worth school districts to improve student achievement.
The recent attention drawn to the area’s literacy woes has prompted families to look for resources such as the Imagination Library, Alvarado said.
“With regard to the resolution that the county commissioners released last year with the focus on literacy, it really did align with what we’re doing already, but it just drew more attention to the issue. And so that really has helped encourage families to look at resources in the community both in school and outside of school, and we’re able to help kind of fill that need,” Alvarado said.
Research shows the level of education that children will attain increases when books are present in their homes, according to a 20-year research study led by the University of Nevada, Reno.
Mariah Evans, an associate professor of sociology and resource economics at the time who spearheaded the study published in 2010, said having as few as 20 books in the home still has significant impacts on a child’s level of education. The more books the better.
“You get a lot of ‘bang for your book’,” she said after the study’s publication. “It’s quite a good return-on-investment in a time of scarce resources.”
Moreover, an international study on the Imagination Library found “that after just 10 books, children in the program were at least 4x more likely to demonstrate stronger emerging literacy skills — such as vocabulary and phonological awareness — compared to children not in the program.”
Jennifer Sturges, a Tarrant County mother who enrolled her 4-year-old daughter Quinn in the program about two years ago, said Quinn’s reading skills have grown rapidly as they’ve expanded their home library. She’s working on phonics, or correlating letters with spoken sounds, and is recognizing letter combinations.
“It’s also made her excited about books,” Sturges added. “I’m a big believer that books open up all types of opportunities for you… If you can read, you can learn almost anything. And so I really want to push her to enjoy books, right? So that it doesn’t feel like a chore that we have to do at school, or some sort of punishment.”
Quinn’s current favorite book from the Imagination Library is “Dandelion Magic,” which is about how the fuzz from dandelions can make wishes come true. She reads it almost every night. In general, Sturges said she appreciates the variety of books the program has provided, including a bilingual book that’s allowed Quinn to start learning words in Spanish, too.
“I really do want to push her to be bilingual because we live in Texas. I think it’ll also help her stay connected to her ancestral roots, and there’s members of her extended family who do not speak English, so it’ll give her the opportunity to be able to at least communicate with them a little bit,” Sturges said, noting that Quinn is Latina.
As far as Dolly Parton herself, Quinn only knows the country music legend and philanthropist for her role as a literacy advocate.
“She knows who Dolly Parton is, and she’s the lady with the books,” Sturges said. “That’s all she knows.”
