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Parton Group Sends Free Books To Hillsborough's Young

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 27, 2008

Starting today, every tot in Hillsborough County will have the opportunity to get books from Imagination Library, a nonprofit project launched by singer Dolly Parton.

Imagination Library will send every child born on or after Sept. 1, 2006, a free book each month until they turn 5. Parents of any income level need only sign up.

Because children get the books in the mail addressed to them, they're often the ones who initiate reading, says Dollywood Foundation President David Dotson. That spills over to their parents. Surveys have shown that two-thirds to three-fourths of the parents in the program say they read significantly more than they did before their children began getting the books.

Metro, Page 1

•Parton started Imagination Library in her hometown, Sevierville, Tenn., in 1996 and began launching it in other communities five years later.

•Dotson estimates the program will have shipped 12 million books come March. Of that, 9 million books were mailed out in 2007 and 2008.

•Parton donates more than $1 million a year to the program.

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