Kendra Ball reads a book provided by the Imagination Library to daughter Kayla in this 2017 photo. Kayla Ball was the first child enrolled in Hancock County’s Imagination Library after its 2015 launch. Daily Reporter file photo
Kendra Ball reads a book provided by the Imagination Library to daughter Kayla in this 2017 photo. Kayla Ball was the first child enrolled in Hancock County’s Imagination Library after its 2015 launch. Daily Reporter file photo
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A new study released Monday illustrates how Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program impacts children’s literacy skills, showcasing a big win for the charitable book program.

Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children each month, from birth to age five, no matter their family’s income.

Parton, a country music superstar, rolled out the program in 1995 and it quickly grew, making its way to Hancock County in 2016 through the Community Foundation of Hancock County.


Kendra Ball reads a book provided by the Imagination Library to daughter Kayla in this 2017 photo. Kayla Ball was the first child enrolled in Hancock County’s Imagination Library after its 2015 launch.

Daily Reporter file photo
In 2021 — when the earliest local recipients were entering kindergarten — a study was launched by Dr. Jerrell Cassady, a professor in Ball State University’s Educational Psychology Department.

Cassady authored the study along with graduate students Sydney Johnson and Danielle Davis, alumni Quinton Quagliano and Ana Aoqui, and fellow Ball State grad Mary Gibble, the outgoing president of the Community Foundation of Hancock County.

The community foundation funded the study, which evaluated all kindergarten students in Hancock County. It found that students who received monthly books through Imagination Library demonstrated significantly higher scores on a national reading measure at kindergarten entry compared to non-participants.

According to the study, Imagination Library recipients performed at levels comparable to peers who were, on average, six months older, effectively overcoming typical developmental differences in early reading performance.

“This research represents the largest peer-reviewed investigation of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to date,” said Cassady. “Our findings underscore the importance of early literacy initiatives in supporting school readiness.”

The study also found a strong community partnership between the county’s public school districts and the local community foundation, which continues to manage the county’s Imagination Library program.

Gibble praised the collaboration that developed between Ball State University, the Dollywood Foundation and Hancock County’s four public school systems for the exchange of data.

“While it remained confidential and secure between those educational entities, it is somewhat unusual for that exchange to happen. I think that’s just another way for us to acknowledge and celebrate what makes Hancock County so very special,” she said.

Gibble said the program would not be possible without the generosity and support of local donors.

“Through its funding of this study, the community foundation has followed through on its promise to the many, many donors who gave gifts, both large and small, to an endowment that ensures this program will exist for perpetuity,” Gibble said.

“At the time we launched the program, we knew we needed to be accountable to a promise that this was an effective program and would indeed result in true change. This study provides (the) evidence,” she said.

The study analyzed standardized reading proficiency scores collected at kindergarten entry for 747 students across four adjacent school districts.

The findings were published in the Early Childhood Education Journal.

Cassady said the study was the largest peer-reviewed investigation of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to date.

“Our findings underscore the importance of early literacy initiatives in supporting school readiness,” he said.

The local Imagination Library program got started in its current form in 2015, following a similar program that had started in 2006 but waned after several years. In 2015, representatives of Hancock County Community Foundation and Hancock County Public Library gathered in September to launch the Imagination Library Express, an endeavor to build $2 million endowment over five years to produce perpetual income to sustain the program.

The two entities achieved that goal, and continue to partner on the county-wide effort, which serves more than 2,500 children from birth through age 5 each year.

Kayla Ball, recognized as the first “graduate” of Hancock County’s Imagination Library program, holds the first 2021 enrollee of the program, Annie Claus, in this 2021 photo.

Kayla Ball, born at Hancock Regional Hospital, was the first child enrolled in the county’s program on Jan. 1, 2016. Since then, more than 3,200 children, hailing from every corner of the county, have graduated from the program on their fifth birthday.

In 2023, Ball was on hand for the dedication of a bronze statue in her likeness commemorating the local Imagination Library program.

According to the study, home-based book distribution programs like the Dolly Parton Imagination Library increase access to print materials, foster language-rich environments and support foundational skills that translate into early reading strategies.

“This study provides compelling evidence that such programs can significantly enhance children’s academic trajectories,” it said.
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