When the mail arrived during the early days of the pandemic, Keya Lowry’s daughter wasn’t looking for a birthday card or a package from a relative. She was waiting for her book.
The monthly deliveries were a ritual. A package bearing her own name arrived through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the program that mails a free, age-appropriate book to children from birth until age 5. Long before she could read every word inside, Navi knew exactly what that package meant.
“She was thrilled with the idea of receiving packages,” Lowry recalls. “This was happening during COVID, which gave us both something to look forward to. She would do flips and twirls.”
Those moments of anticipation are exactly what Reading Ready Pittsburgh hopes thousands more families across the city will experience.
This summer, the nonprofit joined the City of Pittsburgh to launch the “Imagine Free Books for All Children” campaign, an ambitious expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Over the next five years, the partners hope to enroll 9,100 children — about 65% of Pittsburgh’s eligible children under age 5, more than doubling participation from today’s levels. Enrollment has already grown from roughly 4,200 children when the campaign began to about 4,400.
Some children who received books at the kickoff event couldn’t wait to start reading. Photo courtesy of Reading Ready Pittsburgh.
The expansion is backed by a coalition that includes the O’Connor administration, Reading Ready Pittsburgh, The Benter Foundation and other community partners. This summer, childhood literacy is a top priority among a wide range of organizations, with the year-long “Won’t You Be a Reader?” campaign and the Jerome Bettis Summer Reading Challenge underway, and many families participating in Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s annual summer reading campaign.
The Benter Foundation has committed $1.8 million to the expansion of the Imagination Library in Pittsburgh over the next five years, while additional corporate, philanthropic and individual donors are being recruited to sustain the program’s growth.
The goal, says Dr. Mary Denison, founder and executive director of Reading Ready Pittsburgh, is to help families establish reading routines long before children ever walk into a kindergarten classroom.
Parent Keya Lowry celebrates at the Imagination Library kickoff event with Dr. Mary Denison. Photo courtesy of Reading Ready Pittsburgh.
Only 44% of students in Pittsburgh Public Schools score at or above grade level on the third-grade Pennsylvania System of School Assessment reading exam, a benchmark many educators view as a critical predictor of future academic success.
Building vocabulary, attention spans and an appreciation for books has to begin early, Denison says. Mailing a free, high-quality book each month gives families one simple but meaningful way to make reading part of everyday life.
That urgency is personal for her. Every month a child goes without the program, she says, is a missed opportunity to strengthen early development and help prepare that child for school.
The program itself is remarkably simple. Children enrolled at birth receive one carefully selected, age-appropriate book every month until their fifth birthday, building a home library of about 60 books before kindergarten. The books are free for every family, regardless of household income.
The aim reaches beyond simply putting books on shelves. The program is designed to strengthen kindergarten readiness, nurture a lifelong love of reading and give families shared experiences around stories from a child’s earliest years.
Mayor Corey O’Connor and First Lady Katie O’Connor were on hand to kick off the local expansion of the Imagination Library program. Photo by Tyler Newpol.
The books themselves are only part of the story, community members say. Lowry first learned about the program almost by accident six years ago while attending Homestead Community Day. She had stopped at Reading Ready Pittsburgh’s table simply to thank staff members for the literacy programming they offered at her daughter’s daycare.
Then Denison asked whether she’d signed up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, pointed her to a QR code, and within weeks the books began arriving.
Those deliveries soon became one of Navi’s favorite monthly traditions. Like many children enrolled in the program, she wasn’t simply excited about reading. She was excited that something was arriving just for her.
Reading Ready Pittsburgh hears stories like that often.
In annual parent surveys, families describe children rushing to the mailbox, insisting on opening the package immediately and asking to read the newest story before bedtime.
“My son was always so excited to receive his book in the mail,” one parent wrote. The parent said the discussion prompts printed on each mailing sleeve also helped make reading together more engaging and thoughtful.
For local parents Peter and Angelina Lemaire, and their kids Kiara, Gianna and Isaiah, reading is a family activity. Photo by Leah Johnson.
Another grandparent shared that her granddaughter “gets so excited whenever a new book arrives for her, and we must read it immediately.”
For Lowry’s family, those books became the centerpiece of a reading routine that evolved as Navi grew older. At first, Lowry read every story aloud. Eventually, Navi began reading to her.
“The meaningful moments for us were when I was able to allow her to read to me,” Lowry says. “Seeing how her reading fluency increased—that was what made me proud.”
The books also fueled her imagination. Lowry says Navi has always been a creative thinker, and the steady stream of stories gave her even more opportunities to imagine new worlds and ideas.
By the time Navi entered kindergarten, she was already reading at a first-grade level and was later recommended for gifted programming because of her advanced reading abilities. Lowry believes years of intentional reading together—and always having books readily available at home—helped build that confidence.
“I believe it was due to our family having access to books through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and spending intentional time together,” she says.
Literacy is a top priority throughout the Pittsburgh region this summer. Local leaders including Scholastic’s Casey Mindlin, who is spearheading the “Won’t You Be a Reader?” campaign, attended the Imagination Library kickoff event. Photo courtesy of Reading Ready Pittsburgh.
Research suggests those experiences matter. The earliest years of life are a period of rapid brain development, when repeated language experiences help strengthen the neural pathways children rely on for future learning.
Denison says access to books gives parents and caregivers the tools to become a child’s first teacher. She points to pediatrician Dr. Henry Bernstein‘s observation that children who grow up surrounded by books generally learn to read more easily than those who do not.
Research conducted by the Dollywood Foundation also found measurable benefits. After receiving just 10 books through the Imagination Library, children were at least four times more likely to demonstrate stronger emerging literacy skills.
Owning books also changes the relationship children have with them. Favorite stories are read dozens of times. They remain on bedroom shelves instead of being returned to the library. Younger siblings inherit them. Over time, one monthly delivery at a time, a child’s first library quietly takes shape.
Surprisingly, Denison says the biggest obstacle isn’t eligibility or complicated paperwork. It’s simply awareness. Many parents don’t know the program exists.
The new campaign hopes to change that through a citywide outreach effort. Enrollment materials will be available at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh branches, CitiParks pools and recreation centers, WIC offices, Head Start programs, childcare providers, RIF Storymobiles, city events and through the mayor’s newsletter and social media channels. Library staff will also help families complete both online and paper enrollment forms.
Still, Denison believes families themselves will be the program’s strongest advocates. Most parents who enroll hear about it from someone they know, she says, and she hopes neighbors, grandparents and coworkers continue spreading the word until signing up a newborn becomes routine.
Denison hopes as many babies as possible will be signed up by their parents or other caregivers, so they can begin receiving free books. Photo courtesy of Reading Ready Pittsburgh.
“Let’s make it a movement,” she says. Her vision extends beyond enrollment numbers.
She hopes Pittsburgh becomes a city where reading to a baby is encouraged from the day that child is born. Denison envisions pediatricians, librarians, neighbors and friends all pointing families toward the program so every child grows up with “a bookshelf filled with high-quality books and loving adults who are reading those books to their little one.”
“I’d like Pittsburgh to be the gold standard for the way that a community can support its youngest children,” she says.
Mayor Corey O’Connor called the expansion an investment in the city’s future, saying the partnership has the potential to ensure every child under age 5 receives a free book every month while helping families build strong foundations for learning.
Lowry’s advice to parents is simpler: “Do it,” she says. “This resource costs nothing, takes seconds to sign up. The results and impact are life changing.”