Panhandle Book Club Inc. is a local nonprofit organization based in Santa Rosa County, Florida. Our focus is to spread awareness about DPIL, raise funds to sponsor children in the program, and then manage local enrollment.

Yes! PBC is registered as a non-profit organization within the state of Florida and holds federal tax-exempt status as designated by the IRS. We are also registered with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Our EIN is 86-3040004 and we are easily found on Publication 78.

We are currently taking registrations for all eligible children in Santa Rosa County.

No, that is one of our registered operating names.

No, that is another of our registered operating names.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family’s income. After launching in 1995, the program grew quickly. First books were only distributed to children living in Sevier County, Tennessee where Dolly grew up. It became such a success that in 2000 a national replication effort was underway. By 2003, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library had mailed one million books. It would prove to be the first of many millions of books sent to children around the world. Dolly’s home state of Tennessee pledged to pursue statewide coverage in 2004 and global expansion was on the horizon. After the United States, the program launched in Canada in 2006 followed by the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2013 and the Republic of Ireland in 2019.

Families sign their children up for a free book subscription service. One brand-new, age-appropriate book will arrive at the child's door each month--addressed to the child! By meeting families where they live, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library does not place additional burdens on families who might face financial and/or transportation barriers in receiving their books. In order to participate, families must reside in specific zip codes and must enroll online or via post.

There is no cost to families for participating in the Imagination Library, ever.

Thanks in large part to the generosity and sustainability of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, affiliates (that's us) pay on average $2.25 per book each month. That's $135 for 60 books for 1 child if they're enrolled at birth and stay enrolled until the month they turn 5. We have seen an increase in nonprofit mailing rates in recent years and do take inflation into account, so we consider $150 a safe bet for covering the cost of a full set of 60 books distributed over five years into the future.

Our job at PBC is to fundraise for this program so that we can pay for books for children. We do that by collecting donations, selling merchandise on our webstore (not yet available!), applying for grants, and partnering with local and regional businesses who share our vision. We understand that there isn't a single sponsor with pockets deep enough to bankroll this project in perpetuity, so one of our core values is to promote community engagement. With enough individual and small business donors giving annually, our community can have ownership of this project and know that our collective efforts will benefit all of our county's youngest kids year after year. Until we reach that point, though, our volunteer board proudly sponsors the lion's share of this project with our own monetary gifts that cover program expenses, marketing and overhead for the tools we use to sustain our current capacity. Would you like to see us grow? You can help by liking and sharing our page on Facebook, donating toward our book costs, helping us at events, or even volunteering in a leadership position as a member of our board. Let's do this together!

The way it works is that, the Dollywood Foundation selects book titles, negotiates extremely low printing costs on those titles, and provides the logistical means for packing and shipping the books. They also provide an in-house online book order system, guidance on getting started, continuous communication for issues that arise, and effective social media outreach. You probably learned about the program through one of their many active social media campaigns. :) The Dollywood Foundation also does extensive advocacy, including reaching out to governors to discuss support at the state level for local program partners like ours. They provide all of this infrastructure and support, but they do not pay for the cost of the books and shipping for the kids we sign up--that's up to us! We are so grateful to Dolly Parton and the Dollywood Foundation for creating this program and making it possible for communities to replicate it around the world. Let's go all in bring Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to our kids, too! Donate today!

Legal guardians are the only authorized adults permitted to register children for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. This is for a couple of reasons. 1) When well-meaning aunts, cousins, or grandparents attempt to sign up the littles in their lives, it could generate a duplicate entry in the system, or result in a duplicate entry when the parent also attempts to sign the same child up. Duplicate entries are flagged in the system and might interrupt service for an already-enrolled child. It can also happen that duplicate entries result in the child receiving multiple copies of the same book, which is not a good use of our limited resources. Please check first with a child's legal guardian(s) to make sure they know about the program and how to sign up their own child(ren). 2) When well-meaning family members sign a child up, they take agency away from child's guardian(s). Some families are already aware of the program but do not wish to participate. This could be for a variety of reasons, including a desire to keep down clutter, or they might be living in temporary housing and intend to sign up later when they have more space. Maybe they've already collected Imagination Library books over the years from when their oldest children participated while the family lived in another coverage area. Whatever the reason, a guardian's wishes should be respected.

If your child has a residential mailing address in a covered area at the time of sign-up, and will still be 60 months or younger when their first book is sent out, then your child is eligible. There are no other requirements. Please keep in mind that there is a two month delay for book processing. So if your child would turn 5 the month before they got their first book, then they would not be able to register.

At this time, you can sign up by completing the downloadable version of the registration form on ImaginationLibrary.com and mailing it to us at the PO address below. We will announce on social media when online registration is available again. 4629 Forsyth St, Unit 58 Bagdad, FL 32530

Congratulations! You can register your child after they are born (and we hope you do!).

We are parents, too, and understand the importance of protecting your child's identity. The Dollywood Foundation has strict requirements for protecting personally identifiable information. We uphold those standards and also strictly limit who has access to the book order database within our organization. We assure you that we use your information solely for the purpose of registering for the Imagination Library. We do not buy, sell or trade personally identifiable information, including names, addresses, email address, birthdates, or phone numbers. We do require your child's first and last name when you register and failing to provide us with complete information will result in your registration being denied. Keep in mind that part of the spirit of the program is the child's ownership of the books, and this begins with having the child's name printed on the label itself.

Yes, as long as your children would be 60 months or younger by the time they receive their first book, and live in a covered area, more than one child in a household can participate. Each of your children will receive a developmentally appropriate book for their age, and twins will receive the same books each month.

Our board set a cap of 400 approved registrations to ensure we use our current levels of funding to see all currently enrolled children graduate the program. Whenever we approve a child's registration, we are committing to sponsoring their participation until the month they graduate or until they leave our covered areas--and not before. Before we can increase the cap, we must secure additional funding. Our goal is to be able to sponsor all eligible children in SRC and Escambia County concurrently. We can do it with community support! Want to help? You can help us find potential donors by liking and sharing our posts on social media, making a donation, encouraging your favorite businesses to partner with us, giving us a hand at public events, or by joining our team of leadership volunteers. Make a difference with us!

Yes, there is currently a waitlist. Every month while our waitlist is in effect, we will see children leave the program because they have turned 5 that month, and then fill their spots with children from the waitlist. The waitlist is not first-come, first-served. We want to reach as many homes as possible, so approvals will be prioritized for the oldest eligible children on our waitlist. It can happen that if a child is 'pending' for too long, the book order system will automatically remove them. If this happens, feel free to register again.

Our mission is have every eligible child registered for this program in the Florida Panhandle. Right now we are launching in SRC, but we are simultaneously working to bring the program to Escambia County in late 2025.

The only way to register at this time is by printing the registration form from ImaginationLibrary.com and mailing it to us at 4629 Forsyth Street, Unit 58, Bagdad, FL 32530. We did this because we have a waitlist of children whose status in the book order system is "pending." The Dollywood Foundation cautioned us that children who are in "pending" status may be automatically deleted after a couple of months. By mailing us a paper form, we can hold on to your registration until a space opens up for your child. We're also undergoing a process of restructuring how our communities are organized within the book order system. Currently, we are designated as county-level affiliate. We requested to make the change to multiple zip code-level affiliates, which will help us in setting fundraising goals for specific geographic areas rather than the whole county. We wanted to make sure we didn't lose any of our "pending" children in the process, as the division of geographic areas is not intended to happen while there are children waiting to be approved. Our online registrations were growing very quickly, and we decided to mitigate the potential loss of new registrations by using only the paper form. We understand that using a paper form is itself a barrier. Our goal is to have open online registration for all eligible children in our communities! You can help us achieve this more quickly by spreading awareness about our program, encouraging local businesses to partner with us, and by liking and sharing our posts on social media so potential donors can see us and learn about what we're trying to do here in Santa Rosa County.

Registration can be denied for the following reasons: -Duplicate entry -Child is already registered with a different affiliate -Incomplete/Incorrect information (missing phone number, full names not given, hard bounce on email, undeliverable address) -Address not in covered area -Child already turned 5 (or will turn 5 before book processing is complete) If your record is flagged as a duplicate entry, our affiliate (and possibly the other affiliate) will attempt to contact you to clarify if the record is the same. If we cannot reach you, the application will be deleted and you can apply again. If your registration is denied due to incomplete or incorrect information on the application, feel free to apply again with the correct information. If your child is turning 5 next month, it will already be too late to register, as next month's books have already been processed and staged for shipment.

Yes! If your child is too old for our program, you may be able to participate in the New Worlds Reading program! New Worlds Reading is an initiative in Florida that supports VPK or K-5th grade public or charter school students who are not yet on reading level. The idea is the same in that books will get delivered to your door to encourage reading, build confidence and grow a personalized library. Learn more about New Worlds Reading here!

Local program partners like ours use the central book order system provided by the Dollywood Foundation. All of the book orders are processed, invoiced, prepared, and shipped from the same place each month. Due to the sheer volume of books going out each month, there's actually a two month delay from the time a child is approved to the arrival of the first book. So if the approval occurs on June 1st, the order is processed and prepared for shipment during the month of July, and then finally sent out in August. ​ The Dollywood Foundation sends mass emails out to all actively enrolled families about book shipments for the current month, even if you don't have a book coming to you that month due to how recently you enrolled. The process can take up to 12 weeks from the time of enrollment, so please feel free to ask about your books if you haven't received your first arrival by then. ​ Please note that if you transferred to our coverage area very recently, your current month's book might actually still be going to your previous address because it was already processed and prepared for shipment during the previous month.

Our program currently has a cap of 400 children. As older children graduate, we pull other children from the waitlist, prioritizing the oldest ones who might otherwise age out of the program. We do this so that they can still get a book or two before they turn 5. We understand that it can be tricky when one child gets a book but not the other, but it does help us to reach as many families as possible with our current resources.

Welcome to the community! We're very glad to have you here. While we would love to have continuity for all transfer participants, we cannot guarantee immediate enrollment in our program due to our current cap and priority for older children. However, each month as children graduate from the program, space becomes available and new children are enrolled from the waitlist, which also includes incoming transfers. Meanwhile, we are working hard to secure additional funding so we can get your books going again. Thank you for your patience and understanding while we work to grow!

The processing time for books spans three months. So if you registered in June, your books will not start in July, but in August. The Dollywood Foundation sends out emails to all active families regardless of where they are in this process. This is a mass email and may not (yet) apply to you. If you have been approved and still have not received your first book after 2 months, feel free to reach out to us at info@panhandlebookclub.org.

We're so glad your children are starting their journeys with us! Your kids join millions of other children around the world who receive their monthly books--3 million, in fact! The large number of books that are shipped each month means that book fulfillments must be staggered throughout the month by age group. So if one of your kids is in Group 1 and the other is in Group 4, they will likely get their books at different times during the month. Once the books start, you can expect them to arrive around that same time each month, respectively, give or take a few days. There is nothing further you need to do! But do feel free to drop us a line if your service is interrupted.

All children typically receive the same introduction book, "The Little Engine That Could." When families register multiple children at the same time, we mail the introduction book to the youngest child and start the older children right away on the regular book mailings for their age groups. We do this so that families with multiple eligible children can avoid having doubles (or triples! or more!) of the same book coming to them the first month. It also adds to the child's experience of receiving something in the mail just for them, because their book will then be different from their siblings'. It does also help us save a little on cost, as the introduction book is a bit more expensive than the others.

The best way to help out right now is to make a cash donation. ALL donations received will go directly toward the cost of books for kids. No one on our board is paid and all operating costs (for things like our website, PO box, annual registration renewals, etc.) are covered for the year. You can easily and securely donate on the Imagination Library website. Don't forget to list us as your specific Imagination Library affiliate! ​ Donations can also be mailed to our PO address below: 4629 Forsyth St, Unit 58 Bagdad, FL 32530 Additionally, you can navigate to the "Donate" button on our website's top menu bar. This will take you to our Donorbox widget where you can securely donate directly to us. ​ Lastly, we do have a "Donate" button on our Facebook page.

Currently, if you donate on Imaginationlibary.com there will be no way to earmark your gift for a specific area in SRC. However! PBC is currently modifying the structure of our affiliation with the Dollywood Foundation, which will make it possible to donate to a specific zip code in our coverage area. Meanwhile, if you wish to sponsor, underwrite, or make a contribution for a specific community or zip code within SRC, please contact us at info@panhandlebookclub.org.

Yes! While it's not possible to donate on the Imagination Library website for Escambia County at this time, we are accepting donations for the program. You can mail your donation to our PO address or contact us at info@panhandlebookclub.org to discuss other ways to give. Thank you!

At this time, we don't have a book recycling program available. You can still pay it forward by donating your unwanted Imagination Library books to Little Free Libraries in our community. You can find an interactive map of Little Free Libraries here.

We are currently on Facebook and Instagram (but we haven't done much on our Insta just yet).

That is wonderful news! Please reach out to us directly at info@panhandlebookclub. We are excited to tell you all about our plans to celebrate early sponsors!