Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) is a community-based program providing children with free, home-delivered books from birth to their 5th birthday. The Imagination Library was founded and created by beloved American songwriter, musician, actress, author and business-woman, Dolly Parton, in her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee in 1996. The home library encourages reading at home between parents, caregivers, grandparents, siblings and the child.
Habele is the partner, or “local champion” for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) in Micronesia. Established by former Peace Corps Volunteers, Habele is a US-based nonprofit, invested in the future and potential of Micronesian students since 2006.
Starting in 2021, Habele began to sign up newborns in Yap to participate in the program, known colloquially on-island as “Young Island Readers.” Through partnership with the Yap State Hospital and Yap’s Community Health Centers, word of the reading program began to spread. Two years later, with the generous support of the Neighboring Island Coordinators at the Yap State Department of Education, and the pilots of Pacific Mission Aviation (PMA), the effort began to reach into Yap’s Outer Islands.
In early 2025, the Young Island Readers book-a-month program reached a major milestone: the 15,000th book was sent to a child in Yap State.
Participation in Yap State is now over 750 children. In other words, based on FSM Census data, over 70 percent of all children across Yap State are receiving high quality age-appropriate books of their own over the course of the year.
In October, DPIL itself reached a significant milestone with 3 million children under five registered worldwide, distributing over 3 million books each month. In the United States, 1 in 7 children under the age of 5 are receiving a Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library book each month.
“We hope to foster a lifelong love of learning and literacy by introducing small children to the joys of reading in their own homes and villages,” explained Neil Mellen, Habele’s founder, and a former Peace Corps Volunteer. “We are tremendously grateful to the kindness and hard work on the part of Dolly Parton, all those at her Imagination Library, and the countless number of people, agencies and organizations in Yap who help make it happen.”
