CHARLESTON, WV (WVNS) — We have a good ole’ country girl coming to visit the Mountain State!
Country music legend, Dolly Parton, will be visiting in Charleston, West Virginia on Tuesday, August 9, 2022 at The Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences. The singer, songwriter, actress and early childhood literacy advocate is coming to celebrate the successful statewide coverage of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
The program, An Evening with Dolly: Celebrating Imagination Library in West Virginia is made possible through a partnership between Marshall University’s June Harless Center and the West Virginia Department of Education. The Imagination Library has a high quality, age-appropriate book each month to children enrolled in the program starting from birth to age five. This wonderful opportunity is given for free to families in all 55 counties.
This event is unfortunately not open to the public, but will be broadcasted and live streamed on West Virginia Public Broadcasting television stations and other social media platforms.
The event will start at 5:30 P.M. The evening also includes a fireside chat and two songs by Parton.
The West Virginia Department of Education announced a significant Imagination Library milestone last year with all 55 counties that were active in the program. Dolly Parton promised to visit West Virginia only if all those counties were onboard with this program, which would make the mountain state 1 out of 11 in the U.S. with this unique difference.
Since 2007, approximately more than 3 million books have been provided to children in the Mountain State and close to 2 million books are mailed each month to children worldwide.
Early childhood literacy is an important part of a child’s development, which can lead to academic achievement and success. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library helps with foundation of children’s development in this book-gifting program and is built on research that shows that having books in the home supports a love of reading and literacy skills.
For more information on this program and to enroll your child, please visit the June Harless Center website at https://www.marshall.edu/juneharless/imaginationlibrary/, or the West Virginia Department of Education website at https://wvde.us/west-virginias-imagination-library/.
You can also send an email to Christy Day, West Virginia Department of Education Office of Communications at Christy.Day@k12.wv.us