It’s the 71st birthday of icon and role model Dolly Parton, so it’s the perfect excuse to remind you that not only is the country singer a legendary figure in American music, she’s also an advocate for childhood literacy who puts her money where her mouth is.
In fact, if you have a preschool-age child, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library will send you a free book every month.
The country musician launched the Imagination Library in 1995, to help foster a love of reading in her home county of Sevier County, TN. Today Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library provides books to over a million preschool children each month.
As Dolly wrote in an open letter on the library’s website, “I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer. The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world.”
If you live in a participating community, all you have to do to start receiving a free, hand-selected book each month from your child’s birth to age 5 is register here.
“Everywhere I go, the kids call me the book lady,” Parton said on a PBS special report about the Imagination Library.
