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Dolly Parton's Book-Giving Charity: You Can Read a Lot Into It
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"I've had a scholarship fund for years, but I started thinking, wouldn't it be great to start the children when they're little, when they're most impressionable, to teach them how to read, teach them how to learn to love books, just to have them, to claim them."
State officials say 35 percent of kindergartners arrive at school unprepared, with many never having been read to or even having books in their home. Once behind the curve, it's hard to catch up.
"Obviously, this program isn't a cure-all, but we definitely feel that getting those books in the home and generating that culture of a love of learning is important," said Margie Maddux of the Governor's Books From Birth Foundation, which Bredesen created in 2004 to set up Imagination Library in every county. "If children are excited about reading, they will be excited about learning."
There have been some critics, though. Some question why the state is spending money on a reading initiative at the same time it's cutting people from TennCare, its financially strapped health insurance program.
"Two million dollars may not seem like much, but when you cut the sick and when you cut the least of those from access to health care to say that now we're going to give $2 million to children across the state to enhance their reading -- leisurely reading -- that bothers my mind," said the Rev. Henry Blaze, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Equity in Nashville, an advocacy group for the poor.
By going statewide, Imagination Library provides free books to children in all Tennessee counties -- the poorest and the wealthiest. The median household income in Williamson County near Nashville, for example, is $75,201, more than twice that of Parton's Sevier County and the state average.
Bredesen said the program is effective, popular and relatively inexpensive, and whether it's the poorest county or the wealthiest county in the state, all pay taxes and all are deserving.
For Parton, Imagination Library is "fun for me because I have a very childlike spirit of my own. I'm hoping to get more and more involved in children's projects as I get older. That would be a great way to grow old."
