Dolly Parton charity has delivered 420,000 books to children in Dublin

Vivienne Clarke

Marion Quinn, chief executive of the Childhood Development Initiative in Tallaght, has spoken of the impact Dolly Parton’s Imagination Children Library has had on children in Dublin 24.

The Childhood Development Initiative is a prevention and early intervention programme which engages with families from pre-birth and in the early years of children's lives to improve outcomes, Quinn told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Ireland was launched on Valentine’s Day 2019, she added. “Since that time, we have delivered 420,000 books and counting to children in Dublin 24. Children are eligible from birth until their fifth birthday. And actually, the final book they get is an Irish book. It's the Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde. So that's kind of a really nice touch for us.

“The first and the last books actually have letters from Dolly inserted in the books. And the final book that children get is a congratulatory letter from Dolly saying well done on graduating from the Imagination Library, which is lovely.”

Quinn explained that An Post covers the cost of post and packaging the books which are then delivered to children in Dublin 24.

“The book actually arrives through the post with the child's name on it. And that's very special for children. And they get very excited about it.

"So we have parents telling us how children have learned to read the calendar so that they know when their next book is going to arrive.

“We know children have learned the name of their postman or postwoman because they're excited about when their book will come. And I suppose for us, the whole point of this is having books in the home and children learning how to hold a book and how to turn pages and be off screens.

“So for the work we do in terms of improving outcomes for children, it ticks so many boxes. It's a fabulous legacy. This was something she was very passionate about because of her own childhood.

"And so we would really hope that organisations locally will help us to sustain the Imagination Library for Children in Dublin 24 as part of Dolly's legacy, I have no doubt that the people in Tennessee will sustain this globally. But at local level, it would be great if we could, if this is an opportunity for some local companies to step up and help us to keep delivering those books.”