Dolly Parton youth book club launches in Elkhart County

Feb. 23—ELKHART — Dolly Parton's reading program has come to Elkhart County.

Crossroads United Way officially launched a partnership with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library on Friday.

"A love of books and reading offers the foundation for literacy skills that set children up for future success," said Katie Mullins, Community Engagement Coordinator, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Indiana, in a news release. "Encouraging increased interaction with children and their caregivers around books and reading strengthens their bond and promotes positive brain development."

The program's soft launch was in December, director of Community Engagement Jill Yoder said, explaining that agreements with the postal service took less time than expected so they began delivering books almost two months earlier than anticipated.

Books are delivered through an agreement with the post office.

"You never know what a caregiver or parent's situation is, and what's nice about this is we don't have to know," Yoder said. The program, she explained, is available to all residents of the tri-county area regardless of income or status of any kind.

Two of the 12 books, provided through Penguin Random House Publishing, are available in both English and Spanish, but Yoder said she hopes to have more available in the future. Each age group, six in total, will have its own set of 12 books, delivered monthly.

The program is free and available for Elkhart, LaGrange, and Noble county kids from birth through their fifth birthday. Every subscription begins with "The Little Engine That Could," and ends with "Welcome to Kindergarten."

Currently, around 1,400 kids in Elkhart County are registered, with 1,900 across all three counties that Crossroads United Way services.

United Way is also working with local libraries, schools, parks departments and more to help register families. The goal is to have 20% of the area's 22,000 youth registered in this first year of the program.

In August, the State of Indiana marked literacy as a top priority for Hoosier children, focusing on early childhood education. One of the ways the state, coordinated by the Indiana State Library, is supporting the cause is by offering 50% matching funds toward organizations partnering with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

"Dolly Parton is universal," Yoder said. "She can engage audiences across the aisle. It doesn't matter culture, religion, politics, Dolly Parton seems to universally inspire people, so we can't think of a better person to have a foundation, the Dollywood Foundation, to send these books out."

United Way is also working with local libraries, schools, parks departments, and more to help register families. A life-sized cutout statue of Dolly will travel to the locations to help with sign-up efforts for the program.

For more information, visit https://www.crossroadsuw.org/dolly-parton-imagination-library.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.