(The Center Square) – Missouri is spending $11 million to have a nonprofit send every child age 5 and under a free book every month.

Senate Bills 681 and 662 of 2022 created the nonprofit Missouri Imagination Library, operated by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and partnered with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, funded by the nonprofit Dollywood Foundation. The bill requires the General Assembly to appropriate at least $2.5 million annually to fund the program. It was sponsored by Karla Eslinger, who was appointed commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education earlier this year.

Missouri is the 14th state to commit to a statewide Imagination Library, but it is the only state to fully fund the program on the day it was launched. There is no cost for the books or shipping.

Parton will appear at an event in Kansas City on August 27 to promote the program and celebrate the success of the effort. According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, more than 137,000 children were enrolled in the program as of June 28.

In the second quarter of the year, 190,054 books were distributed through the program. In 26 of Missouri’s 114 counties, more than 50 percent of children are enrolled.

“As a former Senator who passed the Imagination Library of Missouri Act, my role as Commissioner comes full circle,” Eslinger said. “…We hope Dolly’s visit to Missouri will help us increase awareness of the program and reach the families of the remaining 262,000 eligible children in Missouri.”

Parton founded and launched the program in 1995 to help children in her home county of Sevier, Tennessee. Since its inception, more than 3.1 million children have enrolled in the organization and more than 245 million books have been distributed. The program is available in Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom in addition to the United States.

“By providing free books to families, the Imagination Library of Missouri increases child literacy rates, fosters a love of books, and promotes a culture of reading among all families in the state,” said a press release from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library when it announced Missouri’s program last year.

Parents can register for the free books on the Dolly Parton Imagination Library website.

A committee of early childhood literacy experts will review potential proposals for the Tennessee-based organization. All books will be published by Penguin Random House. Independently published books or books from other publishers will not be accepted, the organization’s website states.

The Dollywood Foundation’s most recent charitable tax return with the Internal Revenue Service for 2022 reported revenues of $55 million, of which $49 million came from program services revenue. Expenses were $52 million, with $31.4 million spent on books and $16.3 million on postage.