MIDDLEBURY — Thanks to a partnership with the nurses at Porter Hospital Birthing Center in Middlebury, Addison County Readers Inc. (ACR) is able to present a free book to each baby born there. “Books at Birth” is just a beginning; Addison County parents can sign up for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL) and their children will receive a free book each month from birth to age 5. That’s 60 books.
 
The DPIL is an international literacy program that carefully selects books and then provides them to affiliates such as ACR at a lower price. Since 2007, ACR has raised the money to pay for these books ad for the cost of mailing them. DPIL takes care of the rest.
 
Locally, over 950 Addison County families are receiving the Imagination Library books. To date, 55,000 books have been mailed, all because of country music legend Dolly Parton. In Addison County, it’s because of the ACR/Porter Birthing Center partnership that Addison County children receive the first book in what will someday be a 60-book library, which is theirs to keep.
 
Families can sign up for DPIL online at http://imaginationlibrary.com, and brochures are available at libraries and other public places throughout the county.