RADFORD – The Radford Public Library is inviting families to come to the library to register children under five for free books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination library courtesy of the Lamplighters.
The event is set for this Saturday, Sept. 7 at 11 a.m. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Radford Chamber of Commerce along with prizes for the first 50 kids registered.
“We’ll also have cute animals visiting from Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center, and we’ll celebrate it all with delicious cake,” the library announced.
According to imaginationlibrary.com, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a “book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family’s income.”
“After launching in 1995, the program grew quickly,” the website states. “First, books were only distributed to children living in Sevier County, Tennessee where Dolly grew up. It became such a success that in 2000 a national replication effort was underway. 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. After the United States, the program launched in Canada in 2006 followed by the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2013 and the Republic of Ireland in 2019.”
Staff report
