peep dolly parton imagination library

Reading is food for the brain! Children who have a favourite book are more likely to become confident readers. Having books at home makes a real difference to babies' and children’s love of stories and books. This gives them a flying start in learning to talk and read, and extends their language - children's vocabulary at age five is the biggest predictor of how well they do later in life. The Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL) was set up to increase the number of children’s books in families’ homes. Each child receives a free book every month from birth to five, delivered directly to them at their home address.

‘We love the books we get as my son likes books now and we always carry one with us. Books can cost a lot of money so it’s not something we can buy. It’s good for learning too.’  Peep group parent

how it is funded - and how you can help

The Peep Imagination Library started in the Leys in south Oxford in April 2014. It is offered to all local families with under fives - and 554 children currently receive their free book every month. The total number of books delivered to local families to date is 13,396. In 2017-18 alone we delivered 6,278 books. We have some funding in place for this year - but not enough to reach all the children this year and next.

We urgently need to raise more funds to enable us to continue and expand the library. £3 per month (£36 a year) will fund a book a month for one family (includes postage). Please click the link if you would like to support this through a one-off  or  monthly donation.

‘One mum in our group said ‘it’s like winning the lottery, and I never win anything usually’. This mum has been having a hard time and she really loved the opportunity for her baby.’  Peep practitioner

what do the children receive?

Dolly Parton Imagination Library works with Penguin books, and the book list is chosen to provide a range of high quality, age-appropriate books. Eight weeks after a baby is registered they receive the first book. We have started giving out the ‘welcome book’, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, when the parent registers so that they have a book straight away. The families really enjoy this first book - and the welcome letter from Dolly Parton inside the front cover. The books come addressed to the child every month and continue until the child is 5 years old, when they receive the graduation book. This means the child could have a library of over 60 books.

inviting families to join

We reach families in a variety of ways:

• Home visits: The Hamilton Trust funds us to do antenatal home visits. The Leys Children’s Centre funds us to visit all families with a new baby or who are new to the area (who have given their consent for a visit via their health visitor). During these home visits we share information about the local children’s centre and the Peep groups available in the area, so we added the opportunity to register with the Peep Imagination Library.
   
• Child health clinic drop-in and Peep groups: We share information via our weekly term-time drop-in session at a local child health clinic (Early Explorers), as well as local antenatal and baby Peep groups.  
   
• Peep Pre-school:  We held a Peter Rabbit event and invited all the Pre-school families to attend and sign up for their Peep Imagination Library journey, which was extremely popular. The Pre-school also receive a book every month, so the children see the book in Pre-school and at home. The Pre-school staff extend the book with related activities in the sessions.
   
• Partnership work: At Peeple we have built up good links with partner agencies and other professionals such as health visitors, sharing what we do and how we register the families. For example, one health visitor is working with a traveller family that had no fixed address, so the books had nowhere to be delivered. We arranged for the books to be delivered to the health centre and the health visitor delivers the books on her visits.
   
• Word of mouth: Free books are a great way to engage with families. More families are hearing about the local Imagination Library through word of mouth, so they are starting to contact us when they have a baby.

setting up your own Imagination Library

If you’re interested in setting up an Imagination Library in your area then check out the DPIL UK website for further info - or to check if there already is one near your. It really complements our local Peep work and the families love it. We attend the bi-annual Dolly Parton Imagination Library UK's biennial conference, and have twice presented there. If you already have a local Imagination Library then do get in touch with us if you have any other questions about using it alongside Peep, or if you'd like to attend Peep practitioner training to broaden your skills in sharing books and stories with families.