COLUMBUS — Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine recently announced new records regarding participation in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio: 60 percent of Ohio’s eligible children – from birth to age 5 – enrolled in the program in January, which means 400,611 children received the books.    

“I’m so thankful to all of our partners in 88 counties for helping us to bring these books to kids, at no cost to their families,” DeWine said. “We’ve come so far from the 13 percent enrollment when we started the effort to create a statewide program in 2019.  And, of course, I am extremely grateful for Dolly Parton, who has sparked such an amazing opportunity for our little ones to learn before they start kindergarten.”

Parton came to Ohio in 2022 to celebrate Ohio’s aggressive push to make Imagination Library books available to young children in every single Ohio village, township, city, and county.

Parton attended First Lady Fran DeWine’s 2022 Luncheon to support the Imagination Library.

“Congratulations to First Lady Fran DeWine and to all of our Ohio program partners for reaching these amazing milestones!” Parton said. “Thank you for everything you do to support my Imagination Library and inspire a love of reading in children across the state.”

DeWine celebrated this milestone by thanking local program partners with gifts of the First Lady’s Buckeye Brownies, as well as Dolly Parton’s Hello Dolly Bars.

“I make my special Buckeye Brownies for our family celebrations, and I wanted to share our tradition with our local program partners who are working tirelessly to make families aware of the Imagination Library’s free books,” DeWine said.