Imagination Library: Improving Literacy in Grant County
Ann Harvey
The Grant County Imagination Library http://www.imaginationlibrarygc.org/ is based in
Silver City, the county seat of a large rural county in southwest New Mexico. The goal of the
Grant County Imagination Library (IL) has been to deliver books monthly to homes of the local
children from birth to age five and thereby promote literature experiences with language and
reading. All of the children of the area are eligible to receive books. The parents are encouraged
to enroll their children for the program online or at many community events. A local office is
also maintained where the parents can enroll their child or ask questions about the program.
Early exposure to books would help establish a basis for future success in school. The IL
vision is that all children in the area would start Kindergarten ready and able to succeed with
reading. The Imagination Library of Grant County oversees the delivery of approximately 1,400
free, age-appropriate, high-quality books each month to preschool children who are under the
age of five. Almost eighty percent of the county’s eligible children have received a total of over
50,000 books since the first order in 2011. The organization’s tasks are to register preschool
children, and to raise funds to pay for the books and their mailing. The Dollywood Foundation is
responsible for the publishing and mailing of the books to the recipients.
In 2011, Loren and Barbara Nelson completed a needs analysis of the underserved mining
district of Grant County. From this study, five zip codes in the mining district surrounding Silver
City, New Mexico, were identified as the areas with the greatest need for early childhood literacy
intervention. Under the umbrella of a local 501(c)(3) literacy program, the Grant County
program was created by completing the necessary arrangements with the Dollywood Foundation.
The Nelsons provided seed money for eight children to be registered, and the first book order
was placed. During the first annual appeal, one hundred letters were sent to community members
and to local business. These letters produced forty-seven donations. After two years and a small
grant from the Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Foundation, all sixteen zip codes in the
county were being served. The cost of delivering a book to a child is approximately $2.10.
All parents are encouraged to enroll children using this format:
1. Parents register their child with the Imagination Library and promise to read to them.
2. The child’s name along with the child’s birth date and address are entered in the
Dollywood Foundation’s database in Dolly Parton’s home town of Pigeon Forge,
Tennessee.
3. On the first of each month, the Dollywood Foundation sends the list of eligible
children and the appropriate book titles to the Penguin Book Group in New York.
4. After printing the books, the Penguin Book Group sends them to a mail house in
Knoxville, Tennessee, where the books are shrink-wrapped, collated, addressed to
the child and sent by bulk mail to post offices across the country.
5. The local mail carrier delivers the book to the child.
__________________________
Picture 1 here
__________________________
The Imagination Library Picture Books
The IL books follow a theme of inspiration and imagination with love of reading and
learning; regard for diversity of people, their roles, culture, and environment; promotion of selfesteem and confidence, and appreciation of art and aesthetics. Each series of books contains
specific characteristics, which are appropriate for a developmental level. Year One books
emphasize the senses of touch with board pages and vision with bright big and colorful pages.
The text is minimal to encourage point and say activities. Other text has rhyme, rhythm,
lullabies, and playful sounds to emphasize listening.
Year 1 Sample Books
Giggles With Daddy
Gingerbread Man
Look Look!
The books chosen for Year Two continue and build on the concepts already introduced. The
text is predictable with repetition. The books encourage body awareness with real photo
illustrations and motor skills with mention of self-help skills. They introduce colors, letters, and
numbers.
All of Baby Nose to Toes
Year 2 Sample Books
A Mud Pie for Mother
ABC Look At Me
In Year Three, wordless books are offered for language development. Themes of the books
include character development and values. Bibliotherapy books addressing issues of fear,
conflict, love, and safety are included.
Year 3 Sample Books
Roar of a Snore
Tomie dePaola’s Mother
Where’s My T-R-U-C-K?
During Year Four, more complex stories are offered with problems and heroes who resolve
them. Different faces and environments introduce the concept of diverse peoples. The theme that
being different is OK resonates with play, humor, and fun in books chosen for this stage.
Year 4 Sample Books
Bringing the Rain to the Kapiti Plain
Llama Llama Misses Mama
The Snowy Day
Year 5 introduces school preparation and readiness. Books which use picture for words
(rebus) help with print awareness. Genres include science, non-fiction, folk tales, and poetry.
Year Five Sample Books
Mary and Her Little Lamb
Owl Moon
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
When a child registers for the Imagination library, they receive Dolly Parton’s favorite, The
Little Engine That Could as their first book and at age five graduate with Look Out Kindergarten,
Here I Come! A child who is registered at birth and graduates at age five can collect up to 60 free
books for their very own library.
Literature Review
The connection between reading aloud to young children and their success in school has been
confirmed for some time. A direct relationship exists between children whose parents read to
them frequently and those who learn to read easily. “Early childhood experiences shape language
development and are associated with school readiness, early reading success, and effective grade
progression” (Lawhon, 2000, p. 5).
Even for very young children, reading seemed to positively influence the development of
both vocabulary and cognition skills. In the Raikes, et al. (2006) study, reading to very young
children showed gains in vocabulary and comprehension at 14 months and gains in vocabulary
cognitive development at 24 months.
“A pattern of daily reading over the three data points for English-speaking
children and daily reading at any one data point for Spanish-speaking children
predicted children's language and cognition at 36 months. Path analyses suggest
reciprocal and snowballing relations between maternal book reading and
children's vocabulary development” (Raikes, et. al, 2006, p. 950).
Children who develop good oral language skills “before entering first grade become highability readers and those who develop low oral language skills eventually become low-ability
readers” (Lonigan , Burgess, & Anthony, 2000, p. 613). Children with poorly developed oral
language skills tend to come from low socio-economic families. Conversely, the children with
well-developed oral language skills usually come from high socio-economic families. Higher
socio-economic families have greater resources to enhance their children’s learning by
purchasing books or taking them to a museum. Lower income families often do not have the time
or resources to offer these benefits, especially when they live in a remote rural community. Hart
and Risley wrote, “Simply in words heard, the average low SES child was having half as much
experience per hour (616 words per hour) as the average SES child (1,251 words per hour) and
less than one-third that of the average child in a high SES family with 2,153 words per hour”
(Stight, 2011, p.36). Therefore, the more words children hear before starting school, the more
successful they will be in reading and writing. The boost to low socio-economic children’s
language development, as suggested by the Raikes, et al. (2006) study, comes when they hear
their parents read to them using vocabulary that is often more complex than that used in daily
conversation.
According to a longevity study by Evans, Kelly, Sikora, and Treiman (2010) at the
University of Nevada, the number of books in the home predicted the level of education of a
child more accurately than did the educational level of the parents. “Children of lesser educated
parents benefited the most from having books in the home” (Evans, Kelly, Sikora, & Treiman,
2010, p. 180). If books are available in the home, parents are more likely to participate in reading
time with their child (Ridzi, Sylvia, & Singh, 2011). Reading books aloud during interactive
reading practices further improves the child’s chances for school success. “Previous research
indicates that greater parent child reading practices predict greater receptive vocabulary,
understanding of story and print concepts, and pre-literacy skills among low-income children”
(Bracken & Fischel, 2008, p.50).
Several studies have noted the influence of the IL on school readiness and early literacy
behavior upon entry into Kindergarten. The Tennessee Board of Regents conducted a web-based
survey of 150 teachers who evaluated 320 entry-level kindergarteners divided into groups of
those who had participated in the IL program and those who had not. A five-point rating scale
was used to measure overall learning preparedness including reading, thinking, listening, and
social skills. “Teachers were asked to consider all students in each group as a whole, and
compare the students to those in previous classes”(Tennessee Board of Regents, 2008b, p. 1).
While the study was not controlled for other preschool experiences, the results produced higher
scores for the IL group over the four measures. Reading Skills proved to produce the biggest
gains, where IL students scored .86 points higher on a scale of five.
Similar research was conducted recently in Shelby County, TN, and tested the sustained
effects of students who were exposed to early storybook reading by comparing second grade
reading scores.
One hundred seventy (170) of these students had participated in Books from Birth
prior to kindergarten entry and 164 students had not participated in the program.
Those students who had participated in the Books from Birth program prior to
kindergarten entry had higher scores in reading development on the Istation Early
Reading measure (http://www.istation.co) in second grade. The Books from Birth
group scored higher on the subtests of vocabulary and reading comprehension
scores compared to students who had not participated at a p= .02 level of
significance. These differences remained even after controlling for socioeconomic status, gender, mobility and attendance rates (Sell, Imig, & Samiei,
2014, p. 2).
There was no difference between the spelling scores of the two groups. Higher vocabulary and
comprehension scores with lower spelling scores would be expected because reading a story
exposed children to the context of the story and provided an automatic scaffold for learning new
words. If the parents discuss the illustrations and identify the actions of the characters in the
story, even more opportunity for learning new vocabulary is offered. The body of literature
concerning results from IL participation demonstrates a strong link between participation in the
program and early literacy success.
Parent Surveys
The success of the Grant County Imagination Library program had been measured by the
parents’ response to surveys, which have been consistently positive. A ten-question survey was
sent to 469 parents (35% of 1325 book recipients). A 20 percent response rate with an n= 93 was
produced. The survey was sent to email addresses that were provided using MailChimp and
SurveyMonkey and the Dollywood Foundation’s secure database. The Likert Scale analysis of
question 1 revealed that before entering the program, the average family read to their child only
three or four times a week. After entering the program, the results of question two indicate that
the average family read to their child once a day (Harvey, 2014).
According to the results of the Likert Scale analysis of question three, the average family
reported that their child asked to be read to more often after entering the program. This question
demonstrates the connection between the exposure to books and the motivation for reading them.
The bonding that occurs during read-aloud time makes reading a comforting experience.
An increased interest in reading books was also recorded by question four. The results of the
Likert Scale analysis demonstrated that most families reported that their child was more
interested in reading after entering the program. Almost half (47%) of children were reported to
have more interest in reading. Both questions four and five focused on the motivation to read and
the bonding process. These responses demonstrate that family time spent sharing books had a
positive impact on the family (Harvey, 2014).
__________________________
Picture 2 here
__________________________
Question seven asked about the number of family members who read the Imagination
Library books. As many as 67% of the families reported that more than one person in the
household benefited from the program, according to the results of the Likert Scale analysis.
Often more than one member of the family received books, and this doubled the exposure to the
number of books read to the child. Open-ended responses show that older children enjoyed
receiving books in the mail so that they could read to the younger children. For example, several
responses suggested an increase of family bonding after reading the books together: “We read
the books when they come in the mail instead of watching TV.” “It gives me a reason to spend
more quality time with my child.” Fathers also spent more time reading to the children (Harvey,
2014, p.8). The parent survey provided needed validation for the operation of the program.
Conclusion
The literature reflects the fact that reading to children helps to prepare them for learning to
read. Children bond with parents during this time and learn to quiet themselves to pay attention
to the story (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University working paper 11, 2011, p.
3). The children also gain new vocabulary and see that reading is important because it is an
activity in which their parents participate. The Imagination Library has influenced parents and
encouraged them to spend time reading to their children. Having a book arrive in the mail is an
added incentive for them to spend time reading as a family. Community funders and policy
makers should continue to support this worthwhile literacy organization.
References
Bracken, S.S., & Fischel, J.E. (2008). Family reading behavior and early literacy skills and
preschool children from low-income backgrounds. Early Education and Development,
19(1), 45-67.
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2011). Building the Brain’s “Air Traffic
Control” System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive Function:
Working Paper No. 11. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu
Evans, M.D., Kelly, J., Sikora, J., & Treiman, D. J. (2010). Family scholarly culture and
educational success: Evidence from 27 nations. Research in Social Stratification and
Mobility, 28(2), 171-197. DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2010.01.002
Evaluating the relationship between the Imagination Library early childhood literacy program
and kindergarten readiness. (2011). Retrieved from: http://usa.imaginationlibrary.com/
medias/SCBFB%20IL%20Final%20for%20Resubmission%20SS.pdf
Harvey, A. (2014). Engaging Parents with Early Literacy Practices. Unpublished paper.
Lawhon, T. (2000). Creating Language and Print Awareness environments for Young Children.
Contemporary Education, 71(3), 5.
Lonigan C.J. , Burgess S. R., Anthony J. L. (2000). Development of emergent literacy and early
reading skills in preschool children: evidence from a latent-variable longitudinal study.
Developmental Psychology. 36(5), 596-613.
NM Public Education Department. (2014). NAEP Reading 2013 State Snapshot Report New
Mexico Grade 4 Public Schools. Retrieved from:
http://ped.state.nm.us/ped/NAEP_index.html
Raikes, H., Pan, B. A., Luze, G., Tamis-LeMonda, C., Brooks-Gunn, J., Constantine, J., Tarullo,
L. B., Raikes, H. A., & Rodriguez, E. (2006). Mother–child bookreading in low-income
families: Correlated and outcomes during the first three years of life. Child Development,
77(4), 924-953.
Ridzi, F. Sylvia, M. R. & Singh, S. (2011). Imagination Library: Do More Books in Hand Mean
More Shared Book Reading? Retrieved from:
http://usa.imaginationlibrary.com/medias/SCBFB%20IL%20Final%20for%20Resubmissio
n%20SS.pdf
Sell, M., Imig, D., & Samiei, S. (2014). Links between Books from Birth participation and
second-grade reading performance. Retrieved from
http://www.urbanchildinstitute.org/articles/updates/links-between-books-from-birthparticipation-and-second-gradereading
Sticht, T.G. (2011). Getting It Right from the Start: The Case for Early Parenthood Education.
American Educator, 35(1), 35-39.
Tennessee Board of Regents Tennessee’s Imagination Library Improves School
Preparedness.(2006) Retrieved from: https://usa.imaginationlibrary.com/medias/file/
books_from_birth.pdf
Children’s Books Cited
Carlson, N. (2001). Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come! Puffin Books.
Piper, W. (1930; 1991, 2011). The Little Engine That Could. Grosset & Dunlap
Ann Harvey is Professor of Reading at Western New Mexico University, Silver City, New
Mexico.
Girl with the book The Little Engine That Could.
Mother Rosie with two children and their new books Dolphins Sands and The Little Engine That
Could