Imagination Library | Rotary Club of Sussex

In 2016, past Rotary President Lisa Brown initiated the partnership between the Rotary Club of Sussex and Dolly Parton’s Imaginary Library.

Dolly Parton’s Imaginary Library is a book gifting program that mails FREE, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, regardless of their family's income. Our goal is to improve our community's kindergarten readiness and family literacy habits

How it works: Dolly Parton’s Imaginary Library books are specially selected, age-appropriate, high-quality titles (65% of which are published by Canadian authors/illustrators). These books are delivered to registered children every month, and each one is personalized with the child's name and mailed directly to the child's home.

Proof it works: The program's impact has been extensively researched, and the results demonstrate its positive effects on early childhood development and literacy skills:

The percentage of children reading three times a week increased from 60 to 85%.
The percentage of children reading daily doubled from 29 to 59%.
There was a 29% increase in children ready for Kindergarten.
Participating children consistently demonstrated stronger reading skills and higher scores on math, science, and reading achievement tests when compared to their non-participating peers from Kindergarten through 9th Grade.
Establishing reading routines leads to increased stability, emotional well-being, and improved family atmosphere, which strengthens families.
The program has a healing effect on the community, resulting in emerging neighbourhood literacy initiatives, increased library usage, and connection to adult/dual language reading and literacy programs.
The program acts as a catalyst for connecting families to other community family services.

Cost to Rotary: The cost per child is approximately $50/year, and there are currently 127 children registered in the Rotary Club of Sussex program. We would love to be able to extend this program to every child who wishes to register as we aim to foster a love of reading.

If you want to register a child for this program, apply here!

If you want to donate to this wonderful program, please click the "Donate Now" button below. All donations of $250 (a 5-year sponsorship for 1 child) will be displayed with great appreciation on this site, and you will receive a charitable tax receipt.