Dolly Parton’s father couldn’t read or write.

Her determination to ensure that didn’t happen to anyone else in her home of Sevier County in eastern Tennessee has made its way to Kingfisher County.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library will soon be a program available to nearly 1,000 youth in Oklahoma.

The program sends one book a month to a child who is signed up from the time they are born until they turn 5 years old.

The age-appropriate books are high quality and free of charge and, if taken advantage of for the full eligible time frame, gifts 60 books to a child. It’s an estimated value of about $1,200 per child.

“She crafted this program from those two major experiences in her life…her father being illiterate and having this desire to help kids in her hometown,” said Laura Sikes, the director of Oklahoma Imagination Library curriculum and instruction, who spoke to Kingfisher Lions Club about the program last Thursday.

She was joined at the meeting by Audrey Sanders, children’s and youth services librarian at Kingfisher Memorial Library.

Oklahoma is one of 15 statewide programs for Imagination Library in the United States. Sikes’ office is a branch of the state Department of Education.

Oklahoma Imagination Library is attempting to reach as many eligible children as possible through partnerships.

Locally, that partnership will be through the Kingfisher County Friends of the Library.

“We think this is a worthwhile project for the county,” Sanders said.

The program was started by Parton in her hometown in 1996.

It has since grown nationwide and worldwide.

It now operates in four countries outside the U.S. and all 50 states within it.

More than 200 million free books have been gifted since it began.

There are currently more than 2.5 million children enrolled in the program nationwide, or about 13 percent of eligible children.

In Oklahoma, there are more than 65,000 enrolled, which is about 26 percent of those eligible.

There are currently 47 programs operating in Oklahoma.

Kingfisher County hopes to be the next, Sanders said, as library officials wade their way through the necessary paperwork to make it happen.

“We’re just getting our feet wet and still waiting on paperwork,” she said. “But as soon as we get past that, then we’ll start it and every child in Kingfisher County will be eligible.

However, it does come at a cost.

It’s estimated it costs $2.20 per child per month to mail them a book.

In Kingfisher County, there are currently 961 children eligible.

If 40 percent of eligible children are enrolled, that cost would be $847 per month or $10,164 a year.

But, the state has already helped reduce that cost in half.

The OSDE matches every dollar raised for local programs, dropping the cost to $1.10 per child per month.

That match was made possible through a bill that was signed into a law in 2020.

Authored by State Sen. John Haste and Rep. Tammy Townley, it utilized $2.5 million in ESSER funds for the matching funds.

The matching funds are now part of the regular education budget request made to the legislature each year.

“We’re really glad to have that here in Oklahoma,” Sikes said.

It’s recommended though not required - to have two years of funding on hand before a local program starts to enroll children.

“We’re out trying to just get the support to help out,” Sanders said. “Any help we can get - any support - would help us out and bring this program to the county.” Locally, the funding would go through the Kingfisher County Friends of the Library, which is a registered 501(c)(3). Statistics show it’s a worthwhile endeavor. Literacy data provided by Sikes showed that, prior to the pandemic in 2020, about 41 percent of kindergarten students were determined “at risk” for reading difficulties at the beginning of the school year. That number has now crept up to near 50 percent, Sikes said. Also in 2019, only 39 percent of third graders scored proficient or above on state English Language Arts assessment, meaning 61 percent are remedial readers. Sikes said remedial reading scores correlate strongly to increased poverty, incarceration and other negative outcomes later in life. In looking to remedy those numbers, the state went with Imagination Library for multiple reasons. “It’s well-established,” Sikes said. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There’s all this infrastructure in place.” Sikes said parents who participate in Imagination Library (IL) in multiple studies across the U.S. report reading to their children more often and having their children ask to be read to more frequently.

Also, data showed Alaskan students who were enrolled in IL performed 25 points higher on reading readiness exams than did their non-IL peers.

A study of Tennessee students showed the benefits of the program extended well beyond age 5. Third grade reading scores for students enrolled in IL were higher than their peers not enrolled in IL, Sikes said.

“So we really want to put books in the hands of families so they can practice these skills with their kids before they begin school,” Sikes said. “These literacy tools are really helpful.”

She noted that all books have a parent guide printed in the front panel.

“Parents can utilize the book as a teaching tool. It’s not just reading a story,” Sikes said.

“It’s asking questions. It’s pointing things out, getting them to think through, how to understand what they’re reading.”

That will benefit them in multiple ways, Sikes said.

“That gets them to associate the love of their family with learning and reading,” she said. “And, once you take that kid and put them in a kindergarten classroom, they’re going to be a lot more able to sit down, to listen, to know what to do with the materials they’re learning from, how to communicate better with their teacher, how to communicate better with their peers.

“It’sakindergarten-readiness program.”

Sikes made note that the program is available in every county in multiple states that share borders with Oklahoma, including New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and Arkansas.

“Every child in those states all have access to this educational resource kids in Oklahoma don’t have,” Sikes noted. “We really want to change that.

“That’s our goal.” To check the availability of the program in your area, visit https://imaginationlibrary. com/ check- availability/ Sikes said if the program isn’t yet available in your area, you can sign up to be notified when it is.

Sanders noted the library is working diligently to complete all the necessary paperwork to get the program started here - as well as necessary fundraising.

Once it’s ready?

“It will be an opportunity for every child,” she said.