Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: Free books for kids by mail

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a unique early-year book gifting program that mails a brand new, age-appropriate book to enrolled children every month for free. Read more about that program here.

Get Free books for kids by mail

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is a program available in many areas that offers a free book each month to children 5 and under. This program mails high-quality, age-appropriate books to kids once a month from ages 0-5.

What a great way to encourage literacy and a love for reading!

Although, you will have to type in your address to see if you qualify. If your address doesn’t qualify, keep checking as they recently expanded to 38 more areas and will probably continue to grow. What a fantastic program!

The mission of this book club, founded in 1995, is to foster a love of learning in children, making the experience of reading fun and meaningful. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is available in over 2,000 communities in five countries. The program currently sends free books to over 1 million children.

How to Get Free Books for Your Child

Who Is Eligible?

Preschool children ages birth to five. Please note that area will have program coverage (see below on how to start a program in your area).

Be a legal resident of your county
Submit an official registration form, filled out by a parent or guardian.
Books are mailed to the address listed on the official registration form.

You will need to “register” your child to check for qualification. Did you qualify? My area is not available currently, maybe yours will be.

Once You’ve Registered

Every month, your child will receive a new book from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in the mail. Be sure that you have entered your correct mailing address and email address so that program staff can contact you if necessary.

Make the most of the free books by checking out the parent resources, including reading tips, printable worksheets, and extra stories

How Does Dolly Parton Imagination Library Work?

The Imagination Library is a free book program. The program will mail your child a free, high-quality book from birth until age five every single month. Simply go online and register your child to receive his or her monthly book.

Each month your child will receive a brand new book in the mail addressed directly to your little one. This becomes a fun time to check the mailbox for a new book each month.

Starting a Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Program (if not in your area)

If the Dolly Parton book program isn’t available in your area, you can learn how you can become an Imagination Library Local Champion and help start a program.

It all starts by you filling out a form. Once the form is complete, you should be hearing from a representative. You can become a “Local Champion”.

Local Champions are responsible for enrolling children who live within the geographical area they offered the program in.

They promote their local programs online and at events. While the Imagination Library negotiates wholesale pricing for the books, Local Champions are responsible for securing funds to cover that cost. Books are 100% free to enrolled children because their Local Champion has secured funds to cover the cost of the books and the shipping fees.