{"id":265027,"date":"2026-08-14T03:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/265027\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T03:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:14:08","slug":"you-can-help-spread-the-word-free-books-are-available-for-all-local-kids-under-5-and-they-make-a-powerful-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/265027\/","title":{"rendered":"You can help spread the word: Free books are available for all local kids under 5, and they make a powerful difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once, when I was tabling at an event for families, I held a free book out to a father. His response was, \u201cNo, thank you, my baby doesn\u2019t even talk yet.\u201d And he left the book behind.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u00a0I realized that that father, lovingly pushing his baby in the stroller, was missing some important information, and now he had turned down a useful tool. He didn\u2019t know his baby\u2019s brain was already taking in language in preparation to learn to talk. He didn\u2019t know that the American Academy of Pediatricians recommends that parents read aloud daily to their babies starting at age six months. And he certainly didn\u2019t know that the number of books in the home strongly correlates with higher reading scores for children once they enter school.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

No one can deny that all parents want their children to do well in school; however, not all of them have the tools to nourish a love of reading in their children. Some parents never developed a natural love of books themselves, having only seen reading as an obligation for school. Some parents lack the time and, due to the high demands of the world we live in today, may lack the money to purchase books to build a home library. <\/p>\n

As the founder of Reading Ready Pittsburgh<\/a>, named to emphasize the important work needed to prepare young minds for success in school, I work to improve access to books and family engagement around those books. The organization provides a book bag rotation program for local childcare programs. <\/p>\n

We install and fill Little Giveaway Libraries to deliver books to under-resourced neighborhoods. And we have a beautiful, totally free children\u2019s bookstore in Homestead, directly across the Homestead Grays Bridge. Our goal is to provide parents and educators with the tools they need to build a lifelong love of reading for their little ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"reading\"reading<\/a>Reading Ready Pittsburgh\u2019s welcoming store, B is for Books.<\/p>\n

One of our largest programs is Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library<\/a>, for which Reading Ready Pittsburgh is the primary provider in Allegheny County, mailing over 8,500 books each month to the Pittsburgh region. Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library is a free program for families that mails a new book every month to children under the age of five. In the City of Pittsburgh and 20 zip codes outside the city, families can enroll at no cost. Yet less than 30% of eligible children are signed up.\u00a0 Why are parents not enrolling?\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Here is the answer: they just don\u2019t know about it.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

In a recent survey of past and present recipients enrolled in Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library, we asked caretakers how they find out about Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library, and 43% of families reported that they heard about the program not from a flyer or their childcare, but from a friend or family member.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

So could you be that friend, family member, or neighbor to someone in your life? Help a family sign their young children up for Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library. Make sure all the young people in your own family are enrolled. Make a point of asking your neighbors if they know they can get free books. You could even offer to read the books to the babies and toddlers. <\/p>\n

One parent told us, \u201cboth my daughter and my son have really enjoyed getting a book every month. They love that they get something in the mail to open. It\u2019s a new story for us to share. Reading to young children is so essential for their growth, learning, and development. I wish everyone knew about the program and took advantage of how easy it is to do something so good for our children for free!\u201d<\/p>\n

Spread the word about Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library to all city of Pittsburgh residents \u2013 every friend, family member, acquaintance, or whoever else you encounter. There\u2019s no reason that every child under the age of 5 is not enrolled<\/a>. And it\u2019s FREE! <\/p>\n

Together with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Grable Foundation, and more than a dozen other organizations across the region, Reading Ready Pittsburgh is working to spark a lifelong love of reading among Pittsburgh-area young people. Can you help us reach the very youngest readers?\u00a0 Invite the young parents in your community, family and friend group\u2014say, \u201cWon\u2019t You Be a Reader?\u201d<\/p>\n

Essay written by Mary Denison, founder of Reading Ready Pittsburgh.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Once, when I was tabling at an event for families, I held a free book out to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[97793,73,75,74,101875],"class_list":["post-265027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-dolly-partons-imagination-library","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-reading-ready-pittsbugrh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}