Nearly 1,800 Howard County kids will get an extra treat for Halloween this year in the form of a new, free book.

But for the foreseeable future, it’ll be the last time.

The Howard County Public Schools Educational Foundation, more commonly known as the Bright Minds Foundation, is the county’s affiliate for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. For over 30 years, Parton’s program has gifted more than 287 million books and currently, 1 in 7 children under 5 in the U.S. receives a monthly book.

The numbers are smaller, but just as meaningful, in Howard County, where Bright Minds has given over 97,000 books to nearly 4,300 kids since 2019.

That’s all coming to an end after this October.

In an email sent to families Thursday, Bright Minds said it was ending its participation in the program and kids would get their final free book next month.

“Like many nonprofit and community organizations, we are facing new economic and funding realities,” the email reads. “Despite extensive efforts, we were not able to secure the amount of long-term funding needed to sustain the program.”

Bright Minds seeks to close opportunity gaps faced by public school students and educators. Boosting early childhood literacy is one of the organization’s main priorities. Though the Imagination Library is a universal program, Bright Minds partnered with community organizations that serve kids at the greatest risk of learning delays to try to get books into their hands.

Each year, the Imagination Library reaches about 2,500 Howard County kids, Bright Minds Executive Director Jennifer Van Kirk said Friday. That costs nearly $75,000 a year.

The Imagination Library negotiates wholesale prices of books and handles other costs, like program administration and book selection. Affiliates like Bright Minds, alongside state partners, then pick up the tab for the books and postage, which Van Kirk said came out to just over $2.30 per book.

The program, which is also known as Read With Me — Howard County, was funded by a variety of grants and donations from sources like Howard County government, the Nora Roberts Foundation and individual families. But as the program grew, it just wasn’t enough. While it started in several select Howard County areas, kids aged 0-5 across all county zip codes had access to free books for the last handful of years, said Van Kirk.

“We may be victims of our own success,” she said. “To be able to continue to expand this to children in our community, to tens of thousands of children, it does require a large funding commitment.”

Families can still go to the library to check out books or scope out Little Free Libraries around town, where residents typically leave a book to take a book.

But what made the Imagination Library stand out was the accessibility, Van Kirk said. The books go directly to family’s doors, reducing the burden on busy parents, and children got mail addressed to them — an exciting moment for any kid who likes to belt “Mail time!” while watching the popular show “Blue’s Clues”. It’s something the entire family can look forward to.

“And then families will often sit down together with their children and read the book,” Van Kirk said. “It kind of forms this really special kind of interaction between caregivers and children that really sparks the love of reading and learning.”

Participating families agree. As of early Friday afternoon, Bright Minds had gathered 78 responses to a program participation survey sent out Thursday, which showed the majority of respondents said they now read “much more often” at home. And 85.7% of them said their kids were more interested in books and reading. Participants felt more confident helping their children read and that they were more ready for kindergarten.

Respondents said they loved the variety of titles and representation, which helped them discover new stories and authors. One person said the books became part of their nightly bedtime routine and that their older son read them to his little sister.

Kids receive their last book the month they turn 5. But they get a special parting gift: a message from Dolly Parton, congratulating them on their years of steady reading. Bright Minds has graduated 2,061 kids from the program.

With the loss of this arm of the Imagination Library, fewer kids may get that celebratory moment. The Imagination Library’s website shows there are partners elsewhere in Maryland, including Baltimore City and Anne Arundel and Montgomery counties.

But Van Kirk said she hopes this is just a pause for Howard County’s budding bookworms.

“We’d love to see the program come back and be available for children in any way that’s possible,” she said.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.