When Gov. Tina Kotek stopped at the Estacada library last year during her One Oregon listening tour of all 36 counties, a cutout of Dolly Parton was displayed at the entrance.
“I had to get a photo,” Kotek recalled. “I love Dolly Parton. She is absolutely amazing. The impact of Dolly Parton’s commitment to the nation’s youngest kids is phenomenal.
“There are two things that I love: Getting kids to read, and Dolly Parton.”
The singer’s Dollywood Foundation launched the Imagination Library in 1995, and it has distributed more than 220 million books free to children under age 5 in the United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain and Ireland. Some of them have gone to Oregon, where 55 community programs distribute free books monthly to 54,000 children.
Before Kotek announced Wednesday, May 8, that Oregon would expand participation in the Imagination Library statewide — joining 20 other states, including Parton’s native Tennessee — visitors to her temporary office in Salem were met by a different cutout of Dolly Parton.
Backed by a bipartisan coalition, the 2023 Legislature set aside $90 million for teachers and others to prepare for her early learning initiative. All 197 Oregon school districts have applied for grants. Lawmakers also approved $1.4 million in this year’s end-of-session budget bill for the Department of Early Learning and Care to expand the Imagination Library statewide, although existing programs do not have to apply for the funding.
“This moment is about the shared commitment we are making in this state to get more books to more early learners,” Kotek said at the gathering.
“But in addition to receiving books, we know that literacy starts well before children make their way to preschool or kindergarten. It’s not just about books. It’s about the relationship between caring adults and their children.”
Kotek has identified as one of her top goals the improvement of student success. One measure is reading. Their chances of future success diminish if children fail to reach at third-grade level when they reach third grade (about age 8).
“What we know is that we have to do everything,” she said in response to a question. “Too many children are not reading at grade level. That is why we have focused on early literacy. But it’s not just in our schools, which we are having great success” with the 2023 initiative still in progress.
“The grants to family groups, our community groups, our partnership with organizations such as the Dolly Parton Imagination Library — we need all of them. We know this will change kids’ lives, and make sure that educators know what they need to do to teach the right way.”
Becca Blessing of Salem sits on an advisory committee for the Marion-Polk Early Learning Hub, which counts about 5,500 children receiving free books in the two counties.
Beyond reading skills and language development stemming from years of story time, Blessing said, her two older children (ages 9 and 11) are helping her youngest child about to turn 2. “I did not know there were so many added benefits,” she added. “I now get to see the fruit of our time spent together.”
State’s role
Under the 2024 budget addition, the Department of Early Learning and Care will help set up other community programs to ensure statewide coverage by the Imagination Library. The foundation requires a 50-50 match with states; Oregon’s share will cover half the local amount. (Kotek, in response to another question, said she and lawmakers will have to figure out future funding after the current budget cycle ends in mid-2025.)
“We know that our children are forming millions of neural connections every second from birth to age 3,” agency director Alyssa Chatterjee said. “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is such a wonderful example of this work and the important role that parents and caregivers are playing in our children’s literacy development every day.
“This will lay the foundation for a love of reading and help set up our children for a strong start in their educational journey going forward.”
Though Parton herself was not physically present — she did appear in a 2-minute introductory video with Kotek and House Majority Leader Ben Bowman — the executive director of the Dollywood Foundation in Sevierville, Tenn., was there to speak about the Imagination Library.
“It began with Dolly’s desire that every child, regardless of income, will have access to books and give every child the start they need in education and in life,” Norrine “Nora” Briggs said.
“The research is clear. We cannot wait for kindergarten for children to have access and exposure to books and learning. We must start early — and if we are going to start early, we must start in the home environment."
Homes and libraries
In addition to getting children ready for kindergarten and leading to academic skills beyond reading, Briggs said the program fosters parent-child relationships.
She said statewide participation is likely to result in 65% to 70% of eligible children receiving books, compared with just under 25% now.
She said afterward that direct mailing of books will reach families with no access to libraries, and children who are not directly under family care for various reasons. They are actual books; under American Pediatric Association guidelines, screen time is not recommended for children age 3 and under.
“Parents have access to other resources they can get,” she said. “But the children get a book a month. Most importantly, they have their names on the book. State programs are special because we will also reach out to some of the most vulnerable populations.”
State Librarian Wendy Cornelisen said that when children are ready, public libraries can supply the vast variety of books that no household can afford to buy on its own.
“Having books in the home is vital to the development of young minds. Making bonds through reading is easy,” she said. “That spark for the love of reading will keep these kids reading and learning their whole lives. Your local library is there to help keep that spark alive and also create more literacy success with family programs that help kids build early literacy skills.”
Oregon has a 3-decade-old program, Start Making a Reader Today, which provides books and volunteer readers for children.
A shared love
Along with Sen. Deb Patterson, D-Salem, Bowman was the chief sponsor of a 2023 bill to add Oregon to the Imagination Library program. It did not pass then, but the 2024 Legislature approved the money for state participation — and the Democrat from Tigard became House majority leader after the session, barely a year into his initial term.
“I grew up loving books and surrounded by books. I love reading even now,” said Bowman, whose mother taught high school English and who himself works in the Gladstone School District.
“Because of this program, many thousands more kids in every corner of Oregon will learn to love reading, no matter how much money their families make.”
One of the more than two dozen books on display was Parton's own "Rainbow," which by itself is often seen as a symbol of gay and lesbian rights. The 78-year-old Parton, however, said the colors in a rainbow "always made me happy."
"May you all carry a rainbow in your heart so whenever you need a moment of joy, you just let that rainbow out of your heart and watch it jump back into the sky!" she concluded.
Parton signed off the introductory video by saying, “Just remember that I will always love you,” referring to the title of the hit song she recorded back in 1973.
pwong@pamplinmedia.com
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