By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois

Illinois families with infants and toddlers now have access to free children’s books through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

Capitol News Illinois reports Governor JB Pritzker was in Bloomington today (Tuesday) to announce the official launch of the state’s partnership with the Dollywood Foundation, which supports the book program.

“Today, I couldn’t be prouder to announce that the Imagination Library is working with the state of Illinois to begin our journey to provide every child under the age of five an opportunity to receive a free book delivered to them every single month.”

The country music legend launched the children’s literacy program back in 1995.

Today, it provides free, high-quality books to nearly 3 million children worldwide, regardless of their family’s income.

Pritzker says the goal is to get free books into the hands of all 755-thousand children under five years of age in Illinois. State lawmakers allocated more than one million dollars to fund Illinois’ partnership in this year’s budget.

People interested in signing up for the program can register their child at the website, imaginationlibrary.com