How It Started

Country music legend Dolly Parton created the first Imagination Library in 1995, to address low literacy rates in her home state of Tennessee. Since then, the program has spread throughout Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, and Australia.

The Yukon Imagination Library (also called Yukon Reads Society) was launched in 2007, brought to life by the Rendezvous Rotary Club of Whitehorse and the Yukon Literacy Coalition. Over the past decade and a half, this program has provided a total 189, 960 books to local families, and encouraged a love of literacy from an early age.

The Yukon Imagination Library must fundraise to continue providing this service to Yukoners. The Yukon Government contributes $50,000 each year, which the Yukon Reads Society aims to match through donations and sponsorships.

In 2021, we partnered with the Council of Yukon First Nations to bring the Hän book “Shëtsey” to Yukon families. This book, written and coordinated by Georgette McLeod, translated to Hän by Percy Henry, and illustrated by Susan McCallum, begins of our goal of providing local children with more local First Nations books. With the support of our partners, sponsors, and volunteers, the program has grown over the past decade, and we have been able to increase our reach. Today more than 1,200 Yukon children receive books each month, with almost 300 of these children registered from communities outside of Whitehorse.