Kids in the First State have wider access to bilingual books, thanks to an assist from an American music legend.
For 30 years, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has put free books in the mailboxes of kids from ages birth through five.
Starting last June, Delaware children got access to English and Spanish bilingual books in the mail from Parton’s initiative. Delaware was one of the first states to sign up for bilingual offerings.
State Librarian Annie Norman said hundreds of children have signed up for bilingual books.
“It's an option so people have to opt in. At the beginning, it was about 357 and now we're up to 546 that have the bilingual option," she said.
Norman says the partnership with the Imagination Library has been a fruitful one for First State families. The program, through a partnership with hospitals, gives newborns their first book - “The Little Engine That Could.” Overall, more and more kids are participating.
“About 60% of preschoolers are registered, and of course, our goal is 100%. We want all of them," Norman said.
The news comes just after the state saw disappointing reading scores in the National Assessment on Educational Progress. That report showed Delaware fourth graders’ reading proficiency was five points below the national average, and reading proficiency in eighth graders was seven points below the national average.
Norman says the Imagination Library program helps build the foundation for childhood literacy and is an important part of what the state libraries do to boost those reading proficiency numbers.
Almost 34,000 kids are currently in the Imagination Library program in Delaware.
