Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Dolly's Imagination Library - TPR's In Focus - Sept. 2, 2026

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Dolly's Imagination Library - TPR's In Focus - Sept. 2, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park on
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  the main campus of Troy University, featuring the International
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  Arts Center, the Fred Noll Hollis Museum,
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  and the Hua Bao Zhu Gallery. More information at troy.edu/artspark.
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  Back through the years I go wondering once
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  again, back to the city From
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  Troy Public Radio, this is In Focus,
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  and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson. The year 1995 saw
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  the launch of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
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  in honor of her father. Today, Alabamians are
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  fortunate that her Imagination Library books are
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  available to young children throughout the state. Kalyn Christian,
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  Alabama State Director of that library, shares an
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  update date from Birmingham. The music you're hearing is
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  Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors.
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  As she sewed, she told a story from the
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  Bible she had read about a coat of many
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  colors Joseph wore. And then she said,
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  perhaps this coat will bring you good
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  luck and happiness. And I just couldn't wait
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  to wear it. And Mama blessed it with a kiss. Kalen Christian,
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  welcome to Troy Public Radio. Thank you for having me.
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  Kalyn, you and Dolly Parton have a lot in
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  common, and what we're doing today is saluting her
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  legacy, the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
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  But your backgrounds have some similarities. What are they?
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  Yes, my great-grandmother grew up in rural
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  Kentucky, and a big part of what drew me to this work
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  is that my great-grandmother never could read or write,
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  much like Dolly's father. So I have always
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  been interested in childhood literacy and early childhood
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  and spent 10 years as a children's librarian in public
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  libraries before I became involved with the Imagination Library.
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  What inspires you about her Imagination Library?
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  The idea that we want all children, regardless of
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  income, regardless of any status
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  in life, should love reading and should
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  be able to read. I think that is just so inspiring and
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  a great motivator for this program. I noticed
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  on your website that research is showing that after just
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  10 books, children are showing stronger literacy skills.
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  Yeah, that frequency that comes with our program,
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  that books are delivered every single month to the child's
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  home, it leads to more frequent reading,
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  engagement with caregivers and family members around
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  quality children's literature just leads into
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  stronger early literacy skills, stronger pre-kindergarten skills,
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  and stronger school skills. When Dolly launched this,
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  her dad was her inspiration. Can you tell us more
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  about that? Dolly often calls her father the
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  smartest man that she ever knew, but he was not able to read
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  or write. So she really wanted to honor him by
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  making sure that all children would be able to read
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  and would love reading. How many children have been enjoying
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  the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library books?
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  In Alabama, we currently have 120,000
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  children enrolled. We have mailed 3 million books
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  since 2023, and we have mailed more
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  than 5 million books since 2004.
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  Back in 2023, Governor Ivey, who has a
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  background as an educator, announced that this program
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  was going to be a statewide program.
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  Can you speak to that? What that statewide program means
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  is that the state of Alabama provides 50% of
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  the cost per child. Our local program partners,
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  who are nonprofits in each county, are responsible for
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  the other 50%. And that was just Governor Ivey's
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  way of making sure that every child in Alabama would be able
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  to access this program. And now we have one
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  in every county, 67 counties in Alabama.
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  So how does it actually work? You mentioned some nonprofits
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  involved as partners. Local 501
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  organizations, they can be school districts,
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  United Ways, Children's Policy Councils.
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  Any nonprofit organization can be our local program
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  partner. Their responsibility is to raise,
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  in Alabama, 50%. In other locations
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  that don't have a statewide program, it's 100%. They make
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  sure their local children know that the program is available.
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  They handle the registration, the outreach,
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  manage our book order system that we provide
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  to our local program partners. They are our boots on the ground,
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  and we support them. The American Printing House for the
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  Blind are participants, making available Imagination Library
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  books to children in Braille and audio format for
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  children who are blind and low vision. We are so happy to have that partnership.
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  We also We also have a couple of other initiatives
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  in Alabama. Every child experiencing foster care
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  is automatically enrolled as long as they are under
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  5 years old. And we are working on getting all of our children in
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  Head Start enrolled in the program as well. As a
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  children's librarian professionally, what results
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  are you seeing? I am seeing children that engage
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  much more with books. Teachers always say they can tell
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  when children have not been exposed books. They don't know what
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  way to hold the book, what direction to turn the pages. And what
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  we're seeing with this program is that children, some of them even
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  start reading before they get to school. And we also see
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  an impact on the families that read together.
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  Children are much more prepared for kindergarten because
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  they have gotten these books every month. And we know that
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  access to books in a child's home is the single
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  biggest indicator of future success. So the children enrolled in
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  the Imagination Library, if they enroll at birth and
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  they go all the way through their 5th birthday, which is when the program ends,
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  they will have a home library of 60 books that are
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  just for them. Books mailed to your home every single
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  month that belong to these children. This program has received
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  numerous awards, including the Library of Congress,
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  Carnegie, the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
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  People see the value in this program. We have
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  research studies that show that children are more prepared for
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  kindergarten, and there's the impact to the family unit.
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  So how do your listeners get started for their children?
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  So if they want to sign up their children for the program, they go
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  to imaginationlibrary.com, and then there will
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  be a check availability button, and they can put in their zip
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  code and their address and either register their child
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  if there's a program available like there will be here in Alabama, or if they're
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  outside of Alabama, they can see if they have a local
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  program partner and enroll their child if they do. Do you
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  have any final comments for the listeners? We hear from parents about
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  how much their children love these books, how much their children
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  love reading because they've gotten these books, how it creates
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  special time together as a parent and child
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  reading. Some people keep these books for years after
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  their graduated from the program, and they give them
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  to friends and family that don't have the program available,
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  or they give them to their own children in the future. So it's
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  just a really meaningful, special program. We led in
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  with Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors. Is there a
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  book? Yes, Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors has
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  been turned into a children's book. It is one of the
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  books that children will receive when they're enrolled
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  in the Imagination Library. Kailyn, it has been a delight to visit
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  with you, and I hope that we can visit again in the future as
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  we salute Dolly Parton's legacy, her Imagination
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  Library, and the lives of these children. Thank you so much
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  for having me. That was Kailyn Christian, Alabama State
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  Director of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library,
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  joining us from Birmingham. We'll leave you with
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  more music from Dolly Parton's poignant song, Coat of
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  Many Colors. Thanks for joining us today for
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  In Focus, which is a podcast wherever you get your
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  podcasts. And feel free to get in touch at
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  infocus@troy.edu.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported
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  Troy Public Radio.
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  I hurried off to school just to find
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  the others laughing.