Pittsburgh is expanding its effort to get free books into the hands of kids through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Author Victor Hugo once said, “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” In Carrick on Thursday, Pittsburgh’s first lady, Katie O’Connor, echoed the literary legend, saying, “Literacy and learning are critical infrastructure leading to a brighter future.”<\/p>\n
That brighter future just got a lot of help as the Benter Foundation, a philanthropic group, is donating $1.8 million in an effort to get more books into little hands.<\/p>\n
Reading Ready Pittsburgh executive director Dr. Mary Denison will be in charge of making sure those dollars lead to lifetime readers, with a little help from American music icon Dolly Parton.<\/p>\n
Parton, a long-time literacy advocate, created the Imagination Library to give free books to kids and has been working with Reading Ready Pittsburgh for eight years. Right now, about 30% of kids under 5 in Pittsburgh are enrolled in the Imagination Library. The goal is to get every kid signed up.<\/p>\n
Keya Lowry says her daughter’s involvement in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library through Reading Ready Pittsburgh enabled her little girl to be reading above a first-grade level on her first day of kindergarten. Lowry says reading truly is fundamental.<\/p>\n
“It’s a lifelong tool,” she said. “It’s a school we all need.”<\/p>\n
If you are interested in enrolling in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library or Reading Ready Pittsburgh, you can learn more online<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n