NORWICH – More than 1,300 of the approximately 2,735 children under five in Chenango County have received free books since June, 2015 thanks to the generosity of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the Chenango United Way, the Norwich Rotary, the Chobani Foundation, the nine public libraries of the county, and several local benefactors.

These 1,300 local children are in good company. The Dolly Parton Imagination Library was created by recording artist Dolly Parton in 1996 to ensure that all children could have access to quality books, regardless of income. It currently provides books to more than 930,000 children in nearly 2,000 local communities across three countries.