Kootingal Public School playgroup has received the entire 60-book suite of the DPIL for families to enjoy.

The library's Tamworth ambassador and country music artist, Ashleigh Dallas, officially handed over the books to school principal Cara Cracknall on Thursday.

"If you look at the statistics for our literacy here in the region, it's not as high as it should be so straight away early childhood literacy is the fundamental part to create a better future for our kids with literacy into schools, so to get the books into the region and to encourage all families to take the time out of their day to be reading, that's most important," Dallas said.

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Ms Cracknall said the playgroup encouraged parents to read with their children aged zero to five regularly.

"It's important that we extend the vocabulary of our children from a very early age so that they're not disadvantaged in comparison to their metropolitan counterparts," she said.

One of the 60 books is Harrison's Song, written by The Voice season two winner Harrison Craig.

From a young age, Craig found that singing was a remedy to his stutter, and it became a means to escape bullying at school. Now an international and platinum-selling singer, he has put his story of courage and resilience into a picture book for school-aged children.

He tuned in via Zoom to have a chat to school students about his new book and the importance of resilience and believing in themselves.

Craig is also a DPIL ambassador, and said it was great children "get the experiences of these books for free which is such a great launchpad for reading and writing, and for just being a kid".

DPIL mails free age-appropriate and culturally sensitive books to children registered in the program from birth to the age of five.

All children born and living within the Tamworth Regional Council LGA are eligible to access the program.

For more information, visit the Tamworth Regional Council website.

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