On any given day of the month, you'll find me heading back from the mail box with a smile on my face. And it's definitely not from bills. You see, two days out of the month I find a children's book waiting for me. I can't wait to open the package and see what's arrived.
The minute I step foot inside and tell my kiddos a new book has arrived, they literally run to the couch so we can read it together. They know the drill. :-)
So, what's my secret for getting magical free books in my mailbox? I'll tell ya. Almost a year ago, a friend told me about...get this, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. What? Dolly Parton gives away free books??? Yep. One book a month per child from birth to age 5. The books are age appropriate but they won't replicate books between siblings. Do you realize how many books that is??? Like a trillion. Just a guess.
This is such a perfect program for our family for several reasons. McLean Co. has one library. It's not in our town and, from what I hear, it's not worth the drive. I haven't personally checked it out so I'm not sure if that's even true. But the library is in the opposite direction of anything I would need to get out of the house for...so, you get the idea.
We've been visiting Evansville's library but my cards up for renewal and it costs $70 (gasp) for an out-of-state library card. I. Could. Die. Oh...and it's $100 for a family. (gasp again) I would almost rather spend the 100 bucks on actually buying books for our home collection. Although, I'm not even sure that's in our budget (as in...it's probably not) because we're in the process of getting out of debt.
I say all of that to finally say, getting two free books a month is an enormous blessing for our family. Not to mention, it's like the funnest thing to open my mailbox and see a book instead of junk mail.
We don't get to pick which books are sent. So, of course, we've gotten a couple books that didn't suit our personal taste. I'd say about 95% of what we receive, we love. And I've been pleasantly surprised to receive a few award winners!
Most cities (or counties) offer this program. I went online to Imagination Library, selected my country (yes, you can also participate if you live in Canada or the UK) and looked up the contact information by state. I had to call a wonderfully nice lady here in Calhoun, but I think you may be able to sign up online. Give it a couple months and you'll start getting books in your mailbox too!
And if you want to go a step further, Dolly's website (that just sounds funny) will give you information on how you can help the Imagination Library!
So what book did Isaac get this month? It was so cute.
Read to Tiger by S.J. Fore was an adorable, funny read. Isaac was smitten by the Tiger (and insisted I talk like a tiger, whatever that means).
Here he is showing you all his new book...
Sorry, he was 'blinded' by my flash. In case you all are wondering why he's wearing a helmet that says "Will"...he has some church friends/family to thank for that. We went to their yard sale to say hi and walked away with a free helmet. And I'm not joking when I say he hasn't taken it off since they gave it to him. He even slept next to it last night.
Anyway! I'd encourage you to try this wonderful program, especially if you don't have access to books galore. It's well worth it! I guess I'll say it...thank you, Dolly Parton :-)
Couldn't help myself.
Disclaimer: I did not receive any prompting from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to write this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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