Every month, 2,700 children in Interior Alaska, between the ages of newborn and 5, receive a new, free book in the mail.
These are the families that sign up for North Star Imagination Library, an offshoot of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The program has been offered in Interior Alaska for 17 years. It is intended to create a love of reading and mails free books to children under the age of 5, who sign up.
“We are sitting right round 2,700 kids right now,” said North Star Imagination Library director Emily Vockeroth of Fairbanks. “We’ve enrolled about 600 new children so far in 2025 and nearly 500 have graduated.”
The graduates are, of course, 5 years old.
The biggest challenge this year is that the cost of shipping has gone up, so monthly bills at the Interior Alaska nonprofit are up by about $500.
“Still, at $2.30 per book, it is still an amazing value for how many kids are served,” Vockeroth said. “We really appreciate our donors, both big and small, as $30 covers the cost of one child for a whole year.”
Eighteen communities in the Interior are served by the program and funded by Tanana Chiefs Conference. That includes Nenana. Only 17 youngsters are currently signed up in Nenana, but that is up from 13 in 2024.
The longtime nonprofit Kids In Motion began funding the program in the Denali Borough in 2024 and numbers have steadily grown. As of this week, here are the latest Denali Borough signups: 27 in Healy, seven at Denali National Park, three at Clear, six in Cantwell and two in Anderson. That’s a total of 45 children, out of an estimated 50-55 kids between the ages of newborn and 5 in the Denali Borough.
A study of new kindergarteners conducted by Best Beginnings found that 48% of Imagination Library participants consistently demonstrated knowledge of letters and symbols, compared to 44% of similar nonparticipants.
“The books keep coming every month and people often tell me how it’s the highlight of the month for their child, asking every time they check the mail if their book has arrived,” she added.
About a decade ago, the program enjoyed some state funding but has survived since then on donations. A majority of program funding now comes from Best Beginnings with significant contributions from Kinross Fort Knox, and Alaska 529. Supporters also include the GoodCents grant from GVEA, Golden Heart Community Foundation and Delta Kappa Gamma. Some notable individual contributions include Flora Wiltse, Trish Stark, Deanna Morris and Bruce and Janna Miller.
“We get regular anonymous donations through various workplace giving programs, so we are grateful to those individuals as well,” Vockeroth said.
Editor’s Note: Kris Capps is the president of Kids In Motion.