A program that provided Prince Edward Island children with free books in the mail every month is ending as part of cuts in the province’s 2026-27 operational budget.

The P.E.I. Literacy Alliance emailed users of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library on Friday informing them the program was coming to and end, with the last books being delivered in May.

“The Imagination Library program has ended due to an unexpected change in funding,” reads a statement from the alliance.

“We’re deeply disappointed, as it has had a meaningful impact on families across P.E.I., and we remain committed to supporting literacy in other ways.”

In the email to program participants, P.E.I. Literacy Alliance executive director Jinny Greaves said the Imagination Library has provided books to thousands of children across the province.

“While this change was outside of the P.E.I. Literacy Alliance’s control, we remain proud of the role we have played in co-ordinating and delivering this initiative alongside so many committed partners,” the email reads.

The alliance launched Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in late 2020. While the Dollywood Foundation strikes deals with publishers and Canada Post, it doesn’t pay for the books but rather relies on local organizations and governments to cover the cost.

The program’s end came up during question period in the legislative assembly on Friday, with Liberal MLA and Opposition education critic Carolyn Simpson saying the governing Progressive Conservatives’ criteria for cuts seems to be to “throw a dart and see what you hit.”

“How can you justify, when literacy levels in this Island are as they are, cutting a program to children where once a month a book is delivered to a child from birth to age five, promoting literacy, only helping literacy levels in this education system?” Simpson asked Education and Early Years Minister Robin Croucher.

Croucher responded that “tough decisions” were made during the operational budget process, but the literacy alliance will continue to receive support.

Speaking to reporters after question period, Simpson said she learned that the program would be ending Friday morning.

“Parents loved it. The positive impact for family and family literacy is obvious in terms of what was made available for them,” she said. “Why that would be a consideration is quite confusing and upsetting.”

According to the P.E.I. Literacy Alliance’s 2025-26 report on the Imagination Library, the program led to more access to books and stronger family reading routines:

• 76 per cent of families read more frequently.
• 85 per cent of children younger than age two showed an interest in books.
• 75 per cent of children two to five years old independently engaged with books. 
• 79 per cent of children more often asked to be read to.
• 75 per cent of families had a home library that otherwise may not have been affordable.

Four in seven Island adults struggle with literacy, Simspson said, and the program promoted reading at home.

She said literacy “carries” children all the way through their school years.

“As they grow older, it’s … learning to read and then reading to learn,” Simpson said. “[If] you can’t read, you struggle.”

‘Another barrier’

Speaking to CBC News after question period, Croucher called cutting the Imagination Library a “very, very hard decision,” and said he realizes it impacts many Islanders.

He said his department is looking for ways to improve families’ access to books.

“I wish that I could be standing here talking about that program and the good things that it does,” Croucher said. 

“What I will say is that our libraries are very, very accessible. Books are available to all ages. We are going to make those books even more accessible to families.”

Croucher said funding the Imagination Library program came with a price tag of around $210,000 per year and “difficult decisions” had to be made during the budget process.

“We had to look at everything and determine what impacts … they have, whether good or bad,” he said. “It’s just one of … a number of things where we had to find cost savings in our department.”

Simpson described herself as “quite shocked” when she learned the program was ending. While she said she understands cuts needed to be made, she questions whether this program should have been among them.

“What it tells us is that the focus on children, the focus on seniors, the focus on those who are most vulnerable at first glance is where the cuts are coming. And that does not make sense,” she said. 

“When you’re cutting programs that support Islanders to succeed, how can we ever move forward in a healthy way within the province?”

She said some families will now struggle to access books, since the program delivered them directly to homes.

“For people who perhaps don’t have access to transportation or don’t have the extra monies in these times to buy books, they’re very expensive,” she said. “This really is another barrier to literacy development.”