Imagination Library of Elbert County

Loved by families, validated by research

Your gift helps ensure that children from birth to age five in Elbert County receive free, high-quality books delivered directly to their homes each month. By providing books at NO COST to families, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library strengthens early literacy skills, inspires a lifelong love of books, and builds a culture of reading.

Even better, every dollar donated is matched by the State of Colorado, doubling the impact of your gift!

We know that reading begins at birth, and the benefits of building a home library extend far beyond the books themselves. Research shows that reading together supports early literacy development, kindergarten readiness, stronger family bonds, and social-emotional growth, helping children build a foundation for lifelong success.

The Impact of Your Support

The Impact of Your Support

•  670 children are currently enrolled to receive books in Elbert County!
• 95% of parents say these books help prepare their children for kindergarten.
• 66% of children become more excited to look at books on their own.
• Children enrolled in the program are 41% more likely to meet early reading benchmarks (DIBELS).

What our Imagination Library Family says

"Imagination Library Books have impacted our son's life by helping me to engage him with reading-often at a level I would've thought was "too advanced" for him to understand. The reading guide with each book has helped me as a parent to think about how to process ideas and themes with my son." 

"This is an amazing and incredibly generous program. Not only have these books helped my child's speech and literacy development, they have brought us all closer together as a family." 

"The books sent are such a wide variety of subjects. The quality of books is excellent and it is so exciting when we receive a book. My older daughter loves to read your books to her little sister:)"

History of Imagination Library in Colorado

In 2020, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the bipartisan sponsored bill, SB20-185, creating a statewide Imagination Library program. Since then, Imagination Library of Colorado (ILCO) has expanded to reach all 64 Colorado counties, providing free books for more than 83,000 Colorado children each month. Some of our recent accomplishments include: 

• 1,965,294 books mailed to Colorado children since ILCO was founded.
• 26% of Colorado kids ages 0-5 receive Imagination Library books.
• 16% of all books mailed are either fully bilingual Spanish/English or include Spanish-language content. 

With the State's commitment to match every dollar raised for books, every dollar donated is a book in the hands of a Colorado child.