The news that Dolly Parton will expand her Imagination Library to help more young Kentucky children means that books will be placed into the hands of hundreds more local preschool students.

“I’m so excited and want to thank everyone partnering with us to make more dreams come true for children and families in Kentucky!” Parton said Oct. 26 in announcing a partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education to expand the monthly book gifting program for all children under 5 years old in the state.

Tracey Young, director of grants and community outreach at Warren County Public Schools, said the expansion will help the district offer books to hundreds of additional preschool students and their siblings.

The school district regularly registers young children for the program through its Little Learners preschool bus.

“What this new announcement from (the Kentucky Department of Education) will allow us to do is expand the Imagination Library opportunity to all our Warren County Public Schools’ preschool children (about 700 children) as well as their younger siblings,” Young told the Daily News. “Should we assist families in getting their children registered at birth, each child will receive 60 books from birth through age 5 (one book per month). This is an incredible opportunity to get books in the hands of our youngest learners!”

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library mails free, high-quality and age-appropriate books every month to children from birth to age 5, no matter the family’s income.

The program is free to enrolled children and families and will soon be available to more children in Kentucky, the Imagination Library announced.

Specifically, the expansion will focus on reaching more children and families to increase participation in existing Imagination Library programs in Kentucky and find new community partners to promote local initiatives all over the state.

Elizabeth Newbould, director of marketing and communications at the United Way of Southern Kentucky, said the expansion bodes well for the local Imagination Library program it administers. Newbould said enrollment in the program has increased during the pandemic, and that it distributed some 77,000 books last year in southcentral Kentucky.

She added that many local children don’t have books at home and start kindergarten without ever having held one, putting them at stark disadvantage on day one of grade school.

Calling it a “huge asset,” Newbould said the gifted books “enable kids to be more prepared for kindergarten and a bright future.”

– Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @NewsByAaron or visit bgdailynews.com.