The Early Childhood Alliance brings the live premiere screening of The Library That Dolly Built to the Wasatch Back community Wednesday at 5 P.M.
Renowned singer, songwriter, and performer, Dolly Parton will be highlighted in this world premiere screening of the documentary about her work to help young children realize their dreams and ambitions through imagination, reading, and learning. The Dolly Parton Imagination Libraryis a book gifting program that sends books, at no charge, to millions of children across the U.S, UK, Australia, Ireland, and Canada. Tuning into this event is a unique chance to look at Dolly’s back story and her inspiration to create positive experiences for young children.
Park City Community Foundation’s Early Childhood Alliance Executive Director Kristen Shulz says they are proud to be an affiliate of the Imagination Library. She says 300 Park City children from newborn to age five currently participate in the program.
The program is you register your kid. This information is available on our website. So, if you go to earlychildhoodalliance.net. At the top, there's a little button for DPIL, which stands for Dolly Parton Imagination Library. But basically, we have taken over the three zip codes that are in the Park City area. So that's 84098,84060, and 84068. So, if anyone who's listening has a child's under the age of five in the zip codes, please sign your child up. The books arrive every month through the US Postal Service. They are entirely free."
Shulz says the books are of high quality from Penguin Random House and are selected by their blue-ribbon selection committee.
"You know, we at the Alliance are really hopeful that we can improve kindergarten readiness and improve relationships between children and caregivers by sending these gift books each month. So, you know, the books arrive. We want the kids to crawl into someone's lap and either has the book read to them or read the book to someone, depending on the age and the reading ability of a child. And once you have this love of reading, you know we're really hoping that these kids continue to go to the library and check out books every week, and you know, really have that love of reading and that excitement. I mean, how great would it be if all of the young kids in our community were excited about reading and really look forward to going to the library and, you know, getting a stack of new books every week."
The Early Childhood Alliance has a task force that focuses on parents and caregivers, and they oversee the DPIL program locally. Shulz says they would like to have enough funding to cover the program in Wasatch and Summit counties.
"Don't have that just yet. And once we take on a zip code, you know we want to know that we're never going to cut these children off from receiving the books. So, we do want to be careful and selective in our zip code selection, but yes, we are looking at expanding."
Shulz says the film is a world premiere, and she has not seen it. Dolly Parton fans can expect a live Q and A with the star along with a live, acoustic performance.
“It’s December 9 at 5 P.M. So again, you can RSVP to see that documentary on our website. It will live stream on Facebook, and I think you can also see it on the imagination website. So, I think everyone will learn a little bit more about both Dolly’s story and impetus and the people who are running the Imagination Library. Then I think during the live streaming event Dolly is also going to do a performance and I think there's a lot of questions. So, for all the Dolly Parton fans out there, it's another opportunity to possibly be able to interact with Dolly via the live Q&A session.”
A link to the Early Childhood Alliance website can be found here. Children five and younger can be signed up to receive books from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. More information about the world premiere can be found there as well.
“KPCW reports on issues affecting children ages 0 through three years old and is brought to you by the early childhood fund at the Park City Community Foundation. For more information go to earlychildhoodalliance.net.”
