Big Reading News for Chestermere Kids (and Their Grownups)
If you have a little one at home and a stack of bedtime books that’s slowly taken over the living room, this one’s for you.
New international research has confirmed what a lot of parents in Chestermere already see firsthand. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library really does make a difference when it comes to early literacy, and the impact here at home is part of the story.
This is not a small study, either. It’s the largest shared book reading study ever done, looking at data from more than 86,000 caregivers across five countries, including Canada. Researchers compared families enrolled in the Imagination Library with those who were not, and the differences were clear.
Kids who receive Imagination Library books are read to more often, show stronger early literacy skills, and are more engaged during story time. Not because parents suddenly became reading superheroes, but because books are there, showing up every month, right in the mailbox.
The Imagination Library was created more than 30 years ago by Dolly Parton, inspired by her father, who never learned to read or write. The idea was simple and powerful. Give kids free, age-appropriate books from birth to age five, and help families build reading into everyday life. No cost. No catch. Just books.
Today, the program mails more than three million books every month to children around the world.
Here in Chestermere, the program is delivered locally through the Imagination Library of Chestermere Foundation. Since launching in 2021, it has quietly become part of many families’ routines.
Right now, 464 local Chestermere children are enrolled. More than 24,000 books have already landed in Chestermere mailboxes. That’s a lot of bedtime stories, car-ride reads, and well-loved board books with bite marks.
The Canadian findings from the study are especially striking. Children enrolled in the program were 13 times more likely to be read to four or more days a week. They were 11 times more likely to initiate shared reading themselves, the “read me a book” moments parents know so well. They were also seven times more likely to show stronger expressive vocabulary.
The study also looked beyond numbers. Families in the program were more likely to talk about pictures, encourage kids to hold the book, and turn reading into a shared experience rather than a task to check off. Those small moments add up, especially in the early years when brain development is moving fast.
In Chestermere, the local program is supported by community funding partners, including the City of Chestermere, helping make sure access to books is not tied to income or circumstance.
Across Canada, the Imagination Library has played an especially important role in Indigenous communities, with more than 70 percent of local partnerships serving First Nation, Métis, and Inuit families. It’s one of the many ways the program works to close early literacy gaps before kids ever set foot in a classroom.
At the end of the day, this research backs up something parents already know. Reading together matters. Having books at home matters. And when books show up consistently, kids use them.
Sometimes the biggest impact comes in the smallest packages. In this case, it’s a book in the mailbox, once a month, with a child’s name on it.
If you want to learn more about the program or how it works in Canada, you can visit imaginationlibrary.com/ca.
To register your child, please click here. If you would like to donate, please click here.
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