Governor Mike Parson and First Lady Teresa Parson, in collaboration with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), announced they will host a celebration event with Dolly Parton and her Imagination Library team on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, at 11 a.m. in Kansas City, Missouri.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dolly to the Show-Me State and join her to celebrate the Imagination Library program,” said Governor and First Lady Parson. “Ensuring Missouri’s children have a quality education is near and dear to us, and we know the earlier we can get children excited about reading and learning, the better equipped they are to find success and achieve their American Dream down the road. We appreciate Dolly, her team, and DESE for helping bring these quality educational resources to Missouri children and continue to encourage all eligible Missouri parents to utilize this program.”
Commissioner of Education Karla Eslinger, who played a key role in the program’s legislative inception, reflected on the significance of the event: “As the former Senator who carried the Imagination Library of Missouri legislation, to now being in the role of Commissioner, this is a full-circle moment. Since the program launched in November 2023, we have enrolled more than 137,000 Missouri children in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. We hope Dolly’s visit to Missouri will help us promote the program even further, reaching the families of the remaining 262,000 Missouri children who are eligible.”
The statewide expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was made possible through legislation spearheaded by then-State Senator Karla Eslinger and signed into law by Governor Parson in 2022 (Section 178.694, RSMo). The program was fully funded with the approval of $11 million in DESE’s Fiscal Year 2024 and 2025 budgets, ensuring the distribution of books to children across Missouri.
Dolly Parton visits states to celebrate once all children ages 0-5 become eligible for the statewide Imagination Library program. Missouri is the 14th state to commit to a statewide program, and uniquely, it is the only state where all children under age five were eligible from the first day of the program’s statewide implementation, supported by full funding.
All Missouri children under five years old are eligible to register for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. There is no deadline to register. The Imagination Library is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by providing age-appropriate books each month to children free of charge. Parents or guardians must register their children on the Imagination Library’s national website to receive books. Once registered, books will be mailed directly to the homes of children every month until their fifth birthday.
Learn more about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Missouri here.
