Local Children Benefit From Free Book Program

(Toronto, March 24, 2021) – Children in Muskoday First Nation will begin receiving their first books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program in the mail in April. Muskoday, which does not have a public library, is just the second community in Saskatchewan to bring the celebrated early literacy program to its youngest citizens. Whitewood, SK launched their program in early 2008.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program is designed to give children an early start to their learning and development, providing age-appropriate books to encourage reading and language skills. The program is being made available to all children from birth to age five in Muskoday through the support of Health Canada’s Brighter Futures program and the Muskoday Community Health Clinic Maternal Child programs.

"I'm so thrilled to see another Imagination Library program in Saskatchewan, and I hope that one day every child in the province will have the chance to participate in the program," says singer and actress Dolly Parton, who founded The Imagination Library in her hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee and has since seen it spread to communities across North America and into the UK.

"For me this program is important because it is never too early to introduce children to books,” says community champion Tracy Bear. “It's also a wonderful thing for the parents. It will promote literacy and it also helps bonding between parents and children. The earlier we can get kids into reading the better. This program is a great way to improve educational opportunities for our children."

Each family in the community will have the opportunity to register their infants, toddlers and preschoolers for the program and receive a free book every month in the mail until their child’s fifth birthday. The program offers a way for parents to connect with their children, support their children’s language development and prepare them for kindergarten.

Muskoday joins a growing number of Canadian communities taking part in the Imagination Library program. Each month children receive books that are carefully selected by a group of experts in education, child development and early childhood literacy, ensuring that the content they read and the illustrations in the books are supporting them appropriately at every stage of their development.

Since November 2006 when Invest in Kids partnered with The Dollywood Foundation of Canada to launch The Imagination Library in Canada, families from communities coast-to-coast in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Manitoba and Newfoundland have had the opportunity to register their child. In March, Nova Scotia became the first province in Canada to offer the program to all First Nations children born in the province and in January, the Yukon implemented the program across the entire territory, making all newborns eligible to join. In 2008, the program delivered over 5 million hard cover books to over 490,000 children throughout the United States and Canada.

To learn how to start an Imagination Library program in your community, please call The Imagination Library at 1-877-583-KIDS x 293 or visit www.investinkids.ca or www.imaginationlibrary.com.

Invest in Kids is a national charity dedicated to supporting parents in the most important undertaking of their lives – raising a child. Understanding the power of parenting, the critical importance of the first five years and parents’ hopes to be the very best parent they can be, Invest in Kids translates the science of parenting and child development into easy-to-understand resources that strengthen parenting knowledge, skills and confidence and provide practical approaches that have context in the world in which they live. For additional information visit, www.investinkids.ca.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library supports children’s language and literacy skills and prepares them for school by gifting every signed-up newborn with a free age-appropriate book a month until the child’s fifth birthday. It helps parents build a positive parent-child relationship through rich sensory exchange as they start reading to their child from early on. Started in the U.S. by Dolly Parton in 1996 in her native Tennessee, the Imagination Library expanded across the States and is currently benefiting more than 480,000 families and their young children. The program has been available in Canada to families with children under five since November 2006 when it was launched by Invest in Kids in partnership with The Dollywood Foundation of Canada. For additional information, visit: www.imaginationlibrary.com or www.investinkids.ca/imaginationlibrary.

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Media contact:
Krista Lamb
Invest in Kids
Manager, Media Relations and Publicity
1-877-583-5437 or (416) 977-1222 ext. 224 
[email protected]