Thanks to Andie Weathers, Enrollment Opens on Folly Beach

Post date: Dec 2, 2016 12:42:14 PM

December 1, 2016 -- For the last two years, Folly Beach resident Andie Weathers has been working on bringing BEGIN WITH BOOKS  (BWB) to Folly Beach.  The program is the Charleston affiliate of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, the country music star's free books-by-mail program for babies and toddlers....Last month, Weathers was proud to announce that Folly Beach is now fully funded to be a part of BWB, meaning that parents can sign up their preschoolers from newborn to about age 4 1/2 to receive a free book in the mail each month until the child turns five years old...."This issue is important to me because of personal reasons," says Weathers. "I raised my three daughters here on the island. This would have been a wonderful program for them."..."Parents are busy," she says.  "Because a parent can afford to buy a child a book each month, doesn't mean it actually happens."  Educators and child-development specialists select the age-appropriate book each month. 

"I have seen the excitement when my grandson receives his book in the mailbox, addressed to him, on Johns Island. He loves his books and always asks his mom to read to him. These books are prized and preferred over purchased books. This sense of pride and ownership is important in instilling a sense of value of books and reading."

This article was published in the December 2016 issue of the Folly Current.