The Guinness partnership, one of England’s largest housing associations, is partnering with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a charity set up by renowned country singer Dolly Parton, so that children in Darnhill, Rochdale and Selworthy Drive and Badger Avenue in Crewe can have access to high quality, age-appropriate books.
The pilot scheme will run over five years, where the enrolled children receive a free book each month, personally addressed to them, until they turn five years old. Guinness residents can enrol their child(ren) by completing the form at Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. https://www.guinnesspartnership.com/your-community/for-younger-residents/dolly-partons-imagination-library/
The selection of books, supplied by Penguin Random House UK publishing, is refreshed regularly so families with multiple children will receive new books to enjoy. The frequency and duration of the Imagination Library’s book-gifting is what makes the programme unique and has wide ranging impacts on communication, school readiness and literacy development.
Eadaoin Kelly, senior community partnership manager at The Guinness Partnership said: “The Imagination Library is an amazing way for our young residents to gain access to books, and to encourage reading at a young age. We want everyone to get the best start in life with the skills to help them thrive in school and beyond. By partnering with the charity, we are inspiring a love of reading from a young age.”
Helen Hastle, regional director, The Dollywood Foundation added: “We’re delighted to partner with The Guinness Partnership to reach more children in communities across England. As Dolly says, ‘you can never get enough books into the hands of enough children!”
Reading with children is the single most important way to help them get ready to read. Parents and carers can support children’s education and cognitive development by sharing books and making reading part of everyday routine.
Ninety per cent of physical brain development occurs in the first three years of life when a child forms over a million new neural connections every second – according to research by the National Research Council, most literacy challenges faced by today’s teenagers and adults result from challenges that might have been avoided or resolved in their early childhood years.
