ATHENS COUNTY, Ohio – Like pretty much everyone in America, 5-year-old Ivy Ittel Schriner loves Dolly Parton.
People love Dolly for different reasons, but Ivy came to know the country music superstar the same way nearly 4,000 children in Athens County have come to know her: through a free book that arrived in the mail.
Ivy was enrolled in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program from the month she was born until she started kindergarten last year. Her little brother, Leo, is now enrolled. The Imagination Library’s mission is to inspire a love of reading by gifting books monthly to children from birth to age 5.
“It’s such a special program and I’m really happy that we signed up and we’ve gotten to have that resource,” Ivy’s mom, Holly Ittel, told the Independent. “In Ivy’s early life I think it has impacted her love for reading and stories and music, too.”
“She just always loved books and loved us reading to her,” Ittel said.
Holly Ittel recalls the many books that stood out to members of the family, including “Good Night, Gorilla,” a picture book for pre-readers, and “Corduroy,” a classic children’s book published in 1968. The first book each child receives is “The Little Engine That Could” – one of Dolly Parton’s favorite books as a child – and the final book each child receives is “Look Out, Kindergarten, Here I Come!”
“Which, of course, made me cry,” Ittel said.
The Imagination Library has mailed more than 300 million books to children worldwide. Books are selected by a committee of early childhood education professionals.
In Athens County, the program has graduated more than 2,100 children since 2020. Currently, almost 1,800 are enrolled out of an estimated 2,500 eligible kids. In 2025 alone, more than 21,000 books were mailed to children in Athens County.
“Having those books delivered each month was just a little treat in the mail, something to look forward to but also something to make my daughter feel seen and special,” Ittel said.
When Ivy was born in 2020, the lack of social contact due to COVID-19 lockdowns made the Imagination Library that much more important. Ittel recalls a day when Ivy crawled back and forth to the bookshelf, until they had read every book in their home library, one at a time.
In the back of each book is a photo of Dolly Parton. Ittel’s children have taken note.
“They both think she’s like an aunt who sends a birthday card,” Ittel says.
Ivy’s fandom has gone beyond her love of the books. She had a Dolly Parton-themed party for both her second and fifth birthdays. The family vacationed to Dollywood in Tennessee last summer.
Instilling a love of reading
According to research shared by the Imagination Library, children in the United States who participate in the program are five times more likely to be interested in reading than children who do not participate. The program now spans five English-speaking countries and internationally, children enrolled in the program are nine times more likely to be read to four or more times a week than children not enrolled.
“Reading is a learned skill,” said Nick Tepe, director of the Athens County Public Libraries, which administers the local program. His own child was enrolled in the Imagination Library.
“It’s not innate to humans. Recognizing the words, how to spell them, how they are pronounced, figuring out how to hold it and open it, being interested in narrative,” he said.
Tepe points to the sheer number of books that have come to Athens County through the program, and their high quality.
When the Imagination Library was launched in 1995, it was a program based just in Tennessee.
It spread to all of Ohio — including Athens County — between 2019 and 2021, when Gov. Mike DeWine and his wife, Fran, championed state funding for half of each county’s portion needed to deliver Imagination Library books to children free of charge to the family. State funding is secured through June 2027.
More recently, the Ohio Department of Health signed an agreement with the Imagination Library to include enrollment information on the Birth Parent Worksheet completed at
birthing centers throughout the state.
Parton’s foundation covers the infrastructure of the program and a local affiliate must cover the cost of the books, which comes to only about $2.60 per child per month thanks to the Imagination Library’s work securing the books in bulk.
In Ohio, as long as state funding is available, that comes to $1.30 per child per month locally. A local nonprofit partner is required to receive a nonprofit mailing rate, so Athens County Public Libraries immediately joined forces with the Athens County Foundation as the nonprofit partner to bring the program to Athens County in 2020.
The Imagination Library Fund is also hosted by the Athens County Foundation, which made one of the first major gifts to the fund, along with OhioHealth, the Athens Rotary Foundation, the Child Conservation League, Athens City Schools, and other local donors.
More recently, Athens City Council authorized a $10,000 appropriation from the general fund to pay the full cost of the Imagination Library for children in the city, allowing more of the state funds to support children in the rest of the county.
But individual donations continue to make a difference in bringing books to the homes of children for free, no matter the family’s income.
“If you believe in reading — if reading is important to you — you can sponsor a kid’s whole year for $35,” Tepe said. “Little donations make a big difference. I also think that for folks who are signed up for it, if you can afford to pay it back, that’s great.”
The Ittel family has kept some of the books for sentimental reasons. They give others away, including at the Little Free Libraries scattered around their Near Eastside neighborhood in Athens.
Holly Ittel appreciates the messages found throughout the books, which include curiosity, confidence, respect, family – and dreaming big. Dolly Parton was inspired to create the Imagination Library in part due to the fact that her own father couldn’t read.
“I imagine for Ivy, as a little girl growing up in Appalachia, she can see that if you work hard and maybe have some people supporting you in your corner along that journey, that you can grow up and be whatever it is that makes [you] happy,” Ittel said.
“That’s the theme throughout all of the stories.”
