Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aid

Parton did a lot of very nice things and was a great contributor to society in good and decent ways that many of her wealth peers totally fail.

But there has since her passing been an element of myth and folklore that has elevated those accomplishments beyond reality.

Her library is a great idea and her support was notable, but the funding in large part comes from government grants and other donors.

To a large degree, the library program is also your tax dollars at work.

But it brought you and your child joy, so you did need it.

It's just an assumption that rich people have everything they need or know how to get it.

All people should be included in these programs and they will mostly give back what they can because like you, most feel they are overwhelming positive.

I remember my family getting taken to our local library every couple of weeks to return and then borrow books while I was in infants school. That made me 9 or 10 years old at the very oldest, and my youngest sister would have been at most 5 or 6 years old. So I'm pretty sure aging out of the Imagination Library is a pretty reasonable time to start that child using a "real" library, and start having several books a month available for free that way.

(I fully acknowledge the immense privilege I had having parents who understood and supported the importance of reading and education. I remember being extremely bored in kindergarten - 4 or 5 years old - and getting told to sit in the back with a few other kids who could read already and we'd read books while most of the other kids were being taught to read.)

Growing up in the 80s everything is white folks or animals but almost always it is about a boy or boys.

I think the baby books are still board books. Cordoroy’s Shapes is part of what I remember about our first’s earliest years. Reading it over and over. We even did a first birthday theme for it. My mom made triangle tarts.

After that they are floppy picture books. I suppose at this scale is is probably both economical and reflects some of the material involved.

That is just fine, though it’s just not the same as holding a hardcover.

Our kids don’t care about that, though. It’s more about the time and talking about the pictures and how well we ham it up.

The world needs more Dolly Partons, that is for sure. But lucky for us, the world has many billions of people who are willing and able to participate in the sort of mutual aid that Dolly championed.

(edit - you've gotten several responses but I will say that you are correct that this sort of thing does not happen in all households; that's one reason this program is great, because it encourages this behavior)

That alone won’t teach them to read, but it will help them a lot as they work through learning.

My kids have been “learning” to read since they were born and my oldest started reading on his own at age 4-5. I didn’t push him to read at all, he surprised me when he started telling me what the signs along the road said.

My younger hasn’t taken to it quite as fast but he’s right where he should be for his age, but we read at least three books to him every day at bedtime. I still read to my older one every day (we’ve read LotR twice), even though he’s plenty capable on his own.

Not only do a lot of kids learn like this, but for instance the little Polish that I know how to speak and read I learned like this as an adult with the help of a native speaker.

Bless Dolly, she was amazing!