Dolly Parton library scheme to be rolled out in Newcastle
Every newborn child in Newcastle will be offered a free book every month, as city bosses adopt a reading project started by country music legend Dolly Parton.
Newcastle City Council is poised to launch a five-year trial of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library book-gifting scheme.
The programme sends a new book each month to children who are signed up to the offer from birth to the age of five.
Council leader Karen Kilgour told colleagues on Tuesday night that bringing the Dollywood Foundation’s offer to Tyneside was “something I am really excited about and really proud of”, with its rollout in Newcastle expected to start from April 1 next year.
The local authority’s cabinet heard how reading regularly to babies and young children helps build self-esteem, vocabulary, confidence, and can even improve sleeping patterns – yet the National Literacy Trust estimates that fewer than half of 0–2-year-olds are read to every day or nearly every day by their parents.
Coun Kilgour added that the pilot should help ensure more children in the city are ready for school, after a recent assessment found a “wide variety” of degrees of preparedness for education among Newcastle youngsters.
The Labour council leader said: “This is being done on the basis of similar projects carried out elsewhere in the country, so we know that it works. The fact that it is a universal offer is really important also.
“I think this really demonstrates that we are putting children and children’s wellbeing at the heart of what we do and are genuine in our ambition to tackle poverty, particularly child poverty, in the city.”
According to a council report, the cost of the project amounts to £26 per child per year – a total £130 per child if they received a book every month from birth until their fifth birthday.
The authority said that was “significant value for money compared to other book subscription initiatives”, with the council expecting to put just over £392,000 into the scheme over its full duration.
An evaluation of its impact on babies and their families will be conducted as the pilot project is carried out.
The Dolly Parton Imagination Library has distributed six million books in the UK since 2007, its website says.
Lib Dem councillor Doreen Huddart told Monday’s cabinet meeting that she had heard positive reports about the scheme’s impact elsewhere.
She said: “I know colleagues in other authorities who had similar projects like this going on and they speak very highly of them. Some are in less advantaged areas and it has made a difference in those children over the years, so I welcome this very much.”