Children across County Kildare are set to receive a free book each month until their fifth birthday as a result of Cill Dara Housing Association signing up to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

The initiative recognises the positive benefits to children who read in early life as well as the quality time parents and carers can spend with their children reading together. The books will be personalised with each child’s name and posted directly to their home, creating a gift experience that makes books exciting and encourages families to spend time together enjoying reading.

Phillip Morrison-Gale, Chief Executive at Cill Dara HA said: “We are excited to be working with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to offer this initiative to our tenants with children under five years of age. Any tenants who haven’t already signed up and would like to are encouraged to get in touch with their housing officer. Every book is personally addressed to each child and a child enrolled at birth will build a library of 60 books!”

Dolly Parton created the Imagination Library as a tribute to her Dad, who was unable to read. Her mission is to inspire children to love to read. Since launching in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has successfully grown and become an award-winning early childhood book gifting program across the world.

The flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation has mailed over 100 million free books in Australia, Canada, The Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom and the United States. The Imagination Library mails more than 1.4 million high-quality, age-appropriate books each month to registered children from birth to age five. Dolly envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading, inspiring them to dream. The impact of the program has been widely researched and results suggest positive increases in key early childhood literacy metrics.