{"id":2933,"date":"2021-06-07T11:33:51","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T15:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=2933"},"modified":"2021-06-07T12:11:48","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T16:11:48","slug":"dolly-partons-imagination-library-and-charlottes-champagne-selman-a-perfect-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2021\/06\/07\/dolly-partons-imagination-library-and-charlottes-champagne-selman-a-perfect-match\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library and Charlotte\u2019s Champagne Selman\u2014A Perfect Match"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I am a big supporter of Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library, a program that provides children birth-4yr with free books.  When Dolly founded this program in 1995, she set out to deliver free books to young children living in Sevier County, Tennessee, which is the county where she grew up.  The program was such a hit that Dolly decided to expand its reach.  She therefore joined forces with literacy organizations around the country in her efforts to provide more children with free books. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015 Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library formed a partnership with North Carolina\u2019s Smart Start of Mecklenburg Program, and two years later, the partnership was expanded to serve families throughout the state. When the news of this partnership was announced, Dolly said, \u201cI\u2019m thrilled that my Imagination Library is going to be offered to so many children in North Carolina.  Working together we can help children dream more, learn more, care more, and be more.\u201d  For more information about Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library, please click on the following link:  https:\/\/imaginationlibrary.com\/<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champagne Selman took on the role of coordinating Charlotte\u2019s participation in Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library in 2015, and she has had remarkable success in this effort.  I first met Champagne a few years ago through my work as the organizer of my annual Seuss-a-Thon.  Champagne participated in this event, and we had a chance to talk about our mutual interest in promoting early childhood literacy efforts.  She told me about her role as Literacy Coordinator of Smart Start\u2019s Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library, and I was intrigued.  Since that conversation, I have taken an ongoing interest Champagne\u2019s literacy work in the Charlotte community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently interviewed Champagne about her involvement in Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library.  She shared with me her admiration of Dolly Parton.  As she put it, \u201cDolly didn\u2019t let her fame take her from her roots.  She remembered how hard life was for her father because he couldn\u2019t read or write, and she was determined to do everything she could to bring books and reading to as many children as she possibly could.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Champagne said that she relates on a personal level to Dolly\u2019s mission to get books into the hands of young children. \u201cI am the oldest of seven children,\u201d she said, \u201cand having access to books is one of the ways that our mother was able to manage raising all of us.  She taught all seven of us the alphabet by reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom <\/em>to us.  My interest in literacy education is tied to my own childhood experiences of reading books with my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to coordinating the day-to-day operation of Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library in Mecklenburg County, Champagne engages in various outreach efforts to inform parents about this program. She said, \u201cI am so pleased that we now provide free books to over 29,000 children in our area.  That\u2019s 41% of the children birth-4yr in our county.  But my goal is to reach all of the children.\u201d  This summer, Champagne and Smart Start has extended its outreach to include little libraries scattered around the Charlotte area.  According to Champagne, \u201cThese libraries will allow us to distribute new books directly to children, and help us educate parents about this opportunity for their family.\u201d  For more information about this initiative, please click on the following link:  https:\/\/smartstartofmeck.org\/dolly-partons-imagination-library-opens-little-libraries-in-eleven-charlotte-locations\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champagne\u2019s official title at Smart Start is \u201cLiteracy Coordinator,\u201d and she sees her work with Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library through the lens of early literacy.  She told me, \u201cShared reading is a strong indicator of early literacy, and the Imagination Library makes it easier for families to come together around a book.\u201d  I commend Champagne and everyone else involved with Mecklenburg County\u2019s Smart Start Program for bringing  Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library to Storied Charlotte. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a big supporter of Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library, a program that provides children birth-4yr with free books.  When Dolly founded this program in 1995, she set out to deliver free books to young children living in Sevier County, Tennessee, which is the county where she grew up.  The program was such a hit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[196],"class_list":["post-2933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storied-charlotte","tag-literacy-education"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2933"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2938,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2933\/revisions\/2938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}