Clayton County Imagination Library

The Clayton County Imagination Library is an affiliate of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family's income. Inspired by an anonymous donor, the Clayton County Foundation for the Future Board brought this initiative to Clayton County to promote early literacy in our communities.

Reading scores in Northeast Iowa dropped dramatically throughout the pandemic, and our youngest readers have been impacted as well. We know that reading at grade level is a key predictor of school success and high school graduation. In addition, it is estimated that a typical middle-class child enters 1st grade with 1,000 to 1,700 hours of one-on-one picture book reading, compared with an average of just 25 hours for a child from a low-income family. This program will help get Clayton County children off to a bright start regardless of socio-economic status, with an early love of reading.

Your gift to the Clayton County Imagination Library helps get books in their hands at no expense to families.