News
The imagination to read comes to local kids
Scott Wagar
11/11/2014
Roberta Henry, Newburg resident and director of the Bottineau County Imagination Library (BCIL), spent Monday afternoon at the Building Blocks Learning Center in Bottineau to donate books to the day care through a project the BCIL is conducting to improve the reading abilities of children in the county.
“We are giving the Building Blocks Learning Center 12 books, along with a Bottineau County Imagination Library shirt for each child in the day care,” Henry said. “We hope the books will encourage children to read. We also hope that we can interest children and parents who are not part of Imagination Library to become members of the organization.”
In 1995, country singer Dolly Parton started the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which granted preschool age children in her home county of eastern Tennessee a book each month through the mail.
“Dolly’s vision was to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families by providing them with the gift of a specially selected book each month,” stated Parton’s Imagination Library’s website. “By mailing high quality, age-appropriate books directly to their homes, she wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. Moreover, she could insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.”
Parton’s Imagination Library was so successful by the year 2000 she went nationally with the program. Today, her reading program is International and 60 million books have been mailed in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Over 1,600 local communities are part of Imagination Library and provide over 750,000 children with a book each month, which has improved reading abilities in preschool children.
The BCIL’s project is taking Henry to every day care in Bottineau County to donate books to the facilities, which equal out to around 10 day cares.
“Already statistics and independent reports have shown Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library drastically improves early childhood literacy for children enrolled in the program,” the website stated. “Further studies have shown improved scores during early literacy testing.”
In 2012, a group of individuals under the direction of Bottineau High School teacher, Mary Grosgebauer, established the Bottineau County Imagination Library in conjunction with the Bottineau County Public Library’s Seeds Foundation and funding by local community members.
According to Henry, to date BCIL have served 200 of the 4oo children in Bottineau County who are eligible by age to be part of the county’s Imagination Library.
With the organization’s new program, they hope to increase the number of children who are part of Imagination Library.
“Our goal is to have every preschool child in Bottineau County receiving books in the mail every month as an incentive to parents who are likely to hear, ‘Read it to me,’” stated Bottineau County Imagination Library website.
“Reading to children will help their language development, help them be ready to read when the time comes and help parents and children spend loving moments together.”
Parents or day cares that wish for more information on Bottineau County Imagination Library or to become members of the organization can call Henry at (701) 245-6513.