With Dolly Parton's UK Imagination Library, pre-school children receive a book, delivered directly to their home each month, from birth until the age of five.
The scheme currently runs in Rotherham, Nottingham, Luton and West London.
Before they joined, 50 per cent of parents in the programme said they read to their children at least four times a week. Since being in the programme, this figure has risen to 80 per cent.
Receiving the free books has also impacted on the amount of television that pre-school children watch, with parents reporting their children are watching 25 per cent less than they did before.
Clare Walter from Nottingham, whose five-year-old daughter Ruby is enrolled in the Imagination Library, said, 'Receiving her own book in the post has helped her to develop a real excitement for books, which inspired her to want to learn to read them for herself.
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