My daughter receives books through this program and I was curious how it was sustained at a $2.5/book wholesale cost.
Interestingly, the coordinating body that selects books, facilitates distribution, and negotiates wholesale pricing is the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, but per-book funding is actually entirely through local charities and so on. This means that where charities are unable to act as partners, children will not receive books, but it also means that the program can operate by growing and shrinking as local support (including from state and local government grants) comes online and goes offline while keeping the overhead for local partners low.
Dolly Parton came up with the initial local structure for her region in Tennessee and David Dotson of Dollywood scaled the operation using this decentralized model. Very impressive structure that makes this sustainable.
Regarding cost per unit. I think the publisher likes this type of partner because they can really get their initial order volume up high without much risk. This allows them to have a super low cost per unit, maximizing profit, from the start.
Dolly Parton was a beautiful spirit and my life was measurably improved by reading as a child so I donated $50 on her death. It's not much but I'm retired on a fixed income. I had to do something.
In Tennessee hospitals a nurse, staff member, or authorized volunteer will swing by your room in the mother-baby unit and sign you up. Then you start receiving free books by mail each month until age 5. An amazing program by an amazing person!
It really hits you in the feels. You get so used to receiving them and then all of a sudden it's a bit of a gut check and it reminds you your baby is growing up so fast. Plus the reminder of Dolly's kindness. Unexpected in what was just a simple trip to the mailbox.
That's so hard though. I feel like she was a 1 in 1 like a lot of great people. Trying to draw a trend line feels impossible. Like ...
- amazing voice
- amazing songwriter
- talented actress
- an icon for attractiveness in the 80s who was self-effacing about it
- embraced her fans of all kinds (imagine someone born when she was being so comfortable with people of all races and stripes)
- just a permanently positive force
Not a lot of people in my lifetime (1975-present) have _no one_ bad-mouthing them. And I am sure there's someone out there bad-mouthing Dolly, but c'mon.
Well, the positive traits you listed are certainly true, but let’s face it: she was also very intelligent and had a self-deprecating sense of humor, so there’s that.
Oh I left super smart out, but the self deprecating I felt like I got with self-effacing ("It takes a lot of money to look this cheap" is Mae West level gag writing).
Many of the stories are good.
The library also selects books that offer some stories reflecting diverse cultures.
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.
Hamming it up is an overlooked parental contribution to reading. Lay it on thick! Do all the voices, act like you don’t know what’s on the next page, be shocked and surprised. Kids love it.
I have a two year old and have been receiving Imagination Library books monthly since he was born. This is a really wonderful non-profit. It's easy to sign up, the books show up in your mailbox, and each one has a page written by an educator describing how to read it to your child. (Point out the dog, what noise does a dog make? How does the boy feel at the end? etc) Highly recommend!
We use it and my son always screen “Dolly!” When we get to her picture in the back jacket. Wonderful service from one of the best Americans to have ever lived.
For jewish themed books, PJ Library is a similar good service
Honest question and maybe it's because I grew up without books… What values do books have if you cannot read? I started to learn how to read at 6. Are those picture only books?
No they are not picture-only books. They have simple stories, which are for parents to read to their children. Reading stories to children before they can read is a very, very old tradition :) (think fairy tales)
(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)
Someone, typically a parent of guardian, reads them to you while showing you the words. After reading the story, they might go back and walk you through each word, how it's said, and its meaning.
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.
No. I am not implying a chicken and egg problem. If you generally start to learn how to read with 6 what would do get from a book between the age 0-5 when you cannot read? In another thread someone explained that usually parents "read" the book to the child - child answered my question. My parents never read books to me so I did not know this was common.
What Dolly was doing here is a form of mutual aid, a practice of sharing skills, knowledge, food, or material goods with your community. I encourage everyone to participate in mutual aid organizations if you are able.
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.
We weren't signed up but as a measure of the scale of this we still wound up with a couple of Imagination Library books through book exchanges or buying used online -- i.e. there are enough of these 300M books floating around that if you have a kid there's a good chance you run into them.
I like the sibling comment "We should be more ambitious with the people we build." -- there are so many great things people with some means can be doing!
PJ Library has a similar program for age 0-8. (I contacted them and they’re fine with non-Jewish families participating, even though it’s aimed at Jewish families and their children.)
If you like coffee, Dolly has a line via Community Coffee (which makes great coffee) called Cup of Ambition, and a portion of each sale goes to the Imagination Library.
My son was in this program and got some wonderful books. When he aged out he got a nice note encouraging him to keep learning. Great program. Our current billionaire class could learn a lot.
Interestingly, the coordinating body that selects books, facilitates distribution, and negotiates wholesale pricing is the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, but per-book funding is actually entirely through local charities and so on. This means that where charities are unable to act as partners, children will not receive books, but it also means that the program can operate by growing and shrinking as local support (including from state and local government grants) comes online and goes offline while keeping the overhead for local partners low.
Dolly Parton came up with the initial local structure for her region in Tennessee and David Dotson of Dollywood scaled the operation using this decentralized model. Very impressive structure that makes this sustainable.
Here’s the interview where he talks about it: https://www.endbookdeserts.com/dolly-parton-imagination-libr...
There was a letter from Dolly to him that ended “I will always love you”. Made my wife tear up.
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.
For jewish themed books, PJ Library is a similar good service
(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)
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.
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.
I like the sibling comment "We should be more ambitious with the people we build." -- there are so many great things people with some means can be doing!
—Sent from Dollywood
Bless Dolly, she was amazing!
https://www.communitycoffee.com/pages/dolly-partons-cup-of-a...
Dolly Parton has died
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49438052