Dolly Parton's reading scheme gets children working 0 to 5 Lynne Trenerry with granddaughter Kayla. The excitement of snail mail is taking hold in Kayla Browne's world with a new book arriving in the three-year-old's mailbox every month. She'll race out of the house to check if she's received her monthly free book that has been personally addressed to her. Then she sits with nan Lynne Trenerry who reads with her. "I like books," Kayla says with a shy smile. The Doveton family is taking part in an ambitious pilot program to improve literacy levels in disadvantaged parts of Australia. Under Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program, run by charity giant United Way Australia, children living in areas deemed to have lower literacy levels in prep receive a new book in the mail each month from the age of zero to five. Their families are given tips on how to read to youngsters. The pilot is part of United Way's Read Learn Succeed program, which has been running in the US for more than 20 years and has helped millions of children. About 850 Australian children are taking part in three pilot schemes, in North St Marys in NSW, Doveton in Victoria and Acacia Ridge in Queensland. Kayla is one of 171 children who are participating in the pilot program that covers the Doveton and Eumemmerring postcode. The Bureau of Statistics shows there are 600 children in the area and the group aims to have 80 per cent of them signed up by the middle of next year, sourcing enrolments from maternal child and health centres, word-of-mouth and Good Beginnings playgroup in Doveton. Mrs Trenerry said it was "normal" in their household to read because it encouraged their learning capacity but the program enhanced that. Her other granddaughter, Amy, 2, is also showing signs of interest in books, which is resulting in a noticeable difference in her learning development. The suburbs were chosen using data from the Australian Early Development Index which showed that children from the area were about three times as likely to struggle with reading than average Australian kids. Jenny Riley, United Way Australia's national community impact manager, has identified about 400 communities in Australia with similar levels of need. The eventual goal is to reach all of these children. "The evidence shows that the more books there are in the home, regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, socio-economic class, those kids will be better off when they start school," she said. The scheme, delivered with the support of Mission Australia, Penguin Books, Australia Post and volunteer mentors from the corporate sector, is inexpensive compared with Reading Recovery, a program which helps children with low literacy skills in year 1. "The earlier we get in there and get these kids set up for life the better," Ms Riley said. United Way Australia chief executive Doug Taylor said the success of the program rested with parents and the wider community. "It's one thing delivering the books to the children but they are more likely to pick them up and read them if their parents encourage them and many parents need support to do that," he said.