Lissette Aquino grew up without many books. Thanks to United Way and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library project her children will have their own personal libraries. The Imagination Library provides children who live in designated areas of Polk County with a free new book every month for their first five years.
Lissette’s son Kendrick, age four, has been receiving the Imagination Library books at home for almost a year and little sister Kay, age eight months, is now receiving them too.
Lissette is thankful for the program and Kendrick gets excited each month when a book comes in the mail.
“We have a big childrens’ library at home now,” she says. “When a new book gets home he’ll shout, ‘Mommy, read it to me!’ We also borrow lots of books from the Parent Lending Library at Family Fundamentals.”
One-on-one reading is a nightly ritual that Kendrick never lets mom forget. His favorite book is Little Monkey Lost, and Lissette willingly reads it over and over. She understands the power of books, and her children are on the path to school readiness!
“I feel blessed because not everybody gets the opportunity to read books,” she says. “In the country where I came from I don’t remember ever going to a library to get children’s books. I didn’t like to read as a child because I didn’t have access to books.”
To learn more about the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, please contact letsgrow@uwcf.org.
