Introduction
In a time when childhood is increasingly filtered through glowing screens, something wonderfully simple is happening in Hernando. Month after month, a brand-new book arrives in a child’s mailbox — addressed to them by name — like a quiet promise the community keeps.
Through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, more than 50,000 free books have reached young children in Hernando since the program began locally. That number is impressive. But what it truly represents is far more personal: small hands tracing glossy covers, bedtime routines strengthened by one more story, grandparents smiling as familiar pages are turned again.
Because the most powerful childhood memories are rarely dramatic.
They are built in repetition.
A chair pulled close.
A voice reading softly.
A light left on just long enough for one more chapter.
A Book That Says, “This Is Yours.”
The beauty of Hernando’s partnership — led by Hernando Excel By 5 — is its simplicity. Books are mailed directly to children from birth to age five who live within city limits. No applications filled with paperwork hurdles. No trips across town. No cost.
The book simply arrives.
For families balancing long work hours or tight budgets, that reliability changes everything. Not every household can afford shelves lined with new titles. But when a book comes addressed to a child — free, consistent, and theirs to keep — it quietly reshapes a child’s sense of belonging.
My name is on this.
This story is for me.
And that message matters more than we sometimes realize.
A Legacy Rooted in Love
The program began in 1995, inspired by Dolly Parton and her father, who never had the opportunity to learn to read. What started as a deeply personal tribute has grown into one of the largest early-literacy initiatives in the world — delivering millions of books each month and hundreds of millions since its founding.
Yet the real impact can’t be measured in totals.
It’s measured in the way a child asks for the same story every night.
In the patience of a tired parent who still reads one more page.
In the tradition that forms quietly, almost without anyone noticing.
Why It Matters Now
Communities are not built on slogans.
They are built on what they choose to nurture — especially in the earliest years.
A book a month will not solve every challenge. But it can plant something lasting: vocabulary, imagination, attention, comfort, curiosity. For a young child, those are not extras. They are foundations.
So here’s a simple question worth asking around your dinner table:
Do the youngest children in your life have books that feel like they belong to them?
If the answer is no — this program was created for that very need.
Because the next 50,000 books won’t appear by accident. They’ll arrive because a community decides that stories matter.
And sometimes, the most meaningful investment in the future begins with something as small — and as powerful — as a book in the mailbox.