Titles, Themes & Concepts For Every Stage
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library puts books into the hands and hearts of children around the world. Imagination Library books are specially selected age-appropriate, high-quality titles. These books are delivered to registered children each month from birth to age five. Each one is personalized with the child’s name and mailed directly to the child’s home. This effort creates a gifting experience making books exciting and shows the child someone is thinking of them.
What does it mean that the Imagination Library sends "age-appropriate" books to enrolled children?
Year 1 - Groups 1 & 2
Group 1: Newborns to Under 1 & Group 2: Around 1 Year Old
- Vision – Bright, big, colorful
- Touch – Board pages
- Rhyme and rhythm
- Simple – Easy to use
- Minimal text – Point and say
- Playful sound
- Nurture – Attachment, lullaby themes
Year 2 - Group 3
- Continue concepts from year one and build upon them
- Repetition and predictability – Generate language
- Books about daily routines, topics familiar to child
- Real photo illustrations
- Body awareness
- Nursery rhymes
- Colors, letters, numbers
Year 3 - Group 4
- Wordless books – Build your own story (reader and child)
- Values and character
- Issues – Fear, conflict, love, safety
- Colors, letters, numbers
- Nursery rhymes
Year 4 - Group 5
- More complex stories – Hero, complication, resolution
- Diversity of others – Faces, environment, it's OK to be different
- Play, humor, fun
- Nursery rhymes and poetry
Year 5 - Group 6
- School preparation and readiness
- Use rebus (pictures used for words)
- Science – Nonfiction
- Folk tales
- Thank you, appreciation
- Rhymes and poetry
Graduation
Upon turning 5 and graduating from the Imagination Library, each child receives the book, Look Out, Kindergarten, Here I Come! by Nancy Carlson. Perfectly timed to the enrolled child's own life, the book centers on Henry the Mouse, who can't wait for all the things he will do when he starts Kindergarten. When he arrives at the classroom, however, he gets scared and isn't sure he wants to take this big step after all. After some encouragement and a look around, he decides not only is excited to start, but he's sure kindergarten is going to be a blast! "The perfect book to help children feel good about themselves and ready to take on kindergarten with confidence."*
* nancycarlson.com/look-out-kindergarten-here-i-come/
Get Involved
Enroll Your Child
If your child is under 5-years old, you can enroll them in Dolly's Imagination Library for free. They will receive one high-quality, age-appropriate book each month until they turn five.
If your child is already signed up for the Imagination Library and you need to update your information, please contact imagination@nols.org.
Make a Donation
Help us keep the Imagination Library free for all children in Clallam County by making a donation at the link below. Together, we can ensure that every child under five in Clallam County, is able to receive one high-quality, age-appropriate book each month.
Recent ground-breaking research has proven a link between enrollment in the Imagination Library and improved literacy. Both quantitative and qualitative findings show that enrollment in the program:
- Closes literacy gaps
- Strengthens home literacy environments
- Inspires reading
- Builds positive family reading habits
Click below and write "Dolly" in the field titled Optional - Other instructions for my donation. Thank you for supporting this incredible program!