SOUTH HADLEY — Access to books in the early years of a child’s life have proven time and again to boost literacy and ensure proficiency in reading.

One two-decade study found that having 500 books at home advanced a child an average of 3.2 years forward in education, not to mention encouraging curiosity, interest and practice in literacy.

But for many families, amassing that kind of at-home library is expensive — a new children’s book can range is about $20 — and takes time that many busy parents don’t have.

One group in South Hadley, however, is working to help families with young children get access to children’s books. In a partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program, 274 children in town now receive a book each month at no cost.

Parton started Imagination Library in 1995 as a way to combat low literacy in her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee. The program sends children up to 5 years old a book each month. Inspired by her own father’s illiteracy and the ways it barred him from achieving his dreams, Parton’s initiative has expanded over nearly 30 years, and now sends 2 million books each month to children in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, the United Kingdom.

South Hadley’s Imagination Library is the only Hampshire County-affiliated member of the Dollywood Foundation’s program.

Run by couple Colleen Boyle and Sarah Freedman, children can build a personal library of classic books, like “Cordory,” and new favorites, such as “Wonder Walkers.”

“New books are expensive,” Boyle said. “We have a wonderful library in western Mass, but to have your own little library ... books that I get to keep forever, it’s fun for kids and helps encourage that love of books are learning.”

Boyle and Freedman brought the program to South Hadley in 2021 after learning that, unlike states in the southern and western United States, its uncommon for states in the Northeast to supply free books to children. The couple had two very young children at the time, who are now 4 and 7 years old, and were looking for ways to support them while giving back to the community.

Boyle said a Facebook post on the South Hadley Town Page helped recruit an estimated one-third of the children in town to the program.

“I think everyone who wanted to do it learned about it pretty quickly. I would call that successful,” Boyle said.

Amanda A. Adams was one of the parents who saw the social media post and immediately signed up her daughter. All three of her children obtained free books from Imagination Library, and their collection of children’s books on their living room shelf continues to grow each month.

“I love any opportunity to have just a variety of books to read to my kids,” Adams said. “It’s nice because we can go to the library and pick them out but kids get very overwhelmed at the library. This way they can have their own collection of books and are more likely to get attached to them and want to read them again and again.”

Adam’s second child, she said, gets very excited for the new books, and immediately wants to read to read them over and over. Her oldest daughter, despite aging out of the program, wants to open the book packages for her siblings. The book selection also made her daughter more familiar with classic books and authors that she now sees at her elementary school.

“There’s been other kids (in the program) who got the same books, so it’s given her something in common with the other kids,” Adams said.

Parents who are interested in signing up their child can do so online at the Imagination Library website. Once the paperwork is filled out, Freedman and Boyle check a child’s eligibility before officially registering a family. Any child who lives in South Hadley and is between the ages of 1 day old to 5 years old can sign up.

“The books are geared towards the values that Dolly Parton promotes, which is kindness and openness to everybody, enjoying nature, there’s all very positive with nice messages,” Boyle added.

The books that are sent each month include a child’s name on it and a message from Parton.

“Kids love getting stuff in the mail because we don’t send letters and a lot of stuff is digital so to get a physical book in the mail that’s addressed to them is pretty exciting,” Boyle said.

Boyle and Freedman’s oldest child is one of 90 children who have aged out of the program in the past three years. For her last book, she received a special graduation book congratulating her on completing the program and moving onto kindergarten.

The Dollywood Foundation takes care of all the book selections, special edition book orders and mailing, while local partners organize sign ups and payment for books. Boyle said South Hadley Imagination Library has done a few fundraisers in town with local businesses, like a “Shrek” movie night at the Town Theater, but most of the money comes from local donations or their pocket.

In the future, Boyle would like to collaborate with more families and businesses to sponsor or partially sponsor a month of books, which costs between $500 and $600. Yet Boyle mostly just wants to see the program grow.

“We certainly would be interested in anyone who would be interested in developing a program in this area and either partnering with them, helping them, working with them to figure out how to fund it, and any of those things,” Boyle said.

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.