Center on the Family announces launch of Dolly Parton Imagination Library

Program will provide free, high quality books to registered Hawaiʻi children in select areas

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
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Posted: Nov 3, 2005

HONOLULU — The Center on the Family at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the Hawaiʻi State Department of Human Services are pleased to announce the launch of Dolly Parton‘s Imagination Library in Hawaiʻi. The Imagination Library will provide free, high quality, age-appropriate books every month to registered children, ages birth through four, who live in Imagination Library-designated communities. This is made possible through a collaborative partnership among the Dollywood Foundation, the Hawai‛i Department of Human Services, the University of Hawai‛i Center on the Family, and participating public elementary schools in the designated areas.

The Imagination Library is available to children living in any of the following communities: Kalihi on Oʻahu; Kaʻu-Keaʻau-Pahoa-Keonepoko-Mountain View-Na'alehu on the Big Island, or Maui County, including Molokaʻi and Lanai. To register a child living in one of these designated areas, go to the office of the public elementary school nearest to where the child lives to complete an application. Books will begin arriving at the child‘s address via the U.S. Postal Service approximately eight to ten weeks after a registration form has been submitted.

Why should families register their young children in the Imagination Library? Research shows that children are born learning and that optimal development is fostered when adults provide opportunities for learning during the early years from birth to age five. Reading to children is one of the most effective ways a parent or other adult family member can contribute to children‘s future success in school and life. Being read to by the people they love the most creates a positive bond between children and adults and fosters a love of reading. Reading aloud with children increases their vocabulary, their language skills, and their knowledge about the world. Having books readily available in the home provides parents the opportunity to read more often to their children.

For more information about the Imagination Library in Hawai‛i, contact any public elementary school in the designated areas; check the University of Hawai‛i Center on the Family‘s website (http://www.uhfamily.hawaii.edu); or call (808) 956-4133 or (808) 956-6117.

For more information, visit: http://www.uhfamily.hawaii.edu