Imagination Library Will Keep Mailing Books After Parton
Imagination Library Will Keep Mailing Books After Parton
The News
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library will keep mailing free books to children after the country singer's death, a representative of the Dollywood Company confirmed to Nexstar.
Parton's family announced Tuesday that she had died at 80. Her nephew, Brian Seaver, posted the announcement on Instagram, according to The Independent.
The program she started in 1995 in Sevier County, Tennessee, now mails more than 3 million books a month to children from birth to age 5 and has given away more than 300 million books since it began, the Washington Examiner reported.
The Dollywood Company urged people to donate to the Imagination Library as a way to honor her, The Hill reported.
How It Works
Children can receive books from birth until they turn 5. The program covers the cost of the books and the postage regardless of a family's income, The Hill reported.
The Imagination Library works through local partners, so families have to be in an area where a partner is operating. The Hill reported that parents can check availability by ZIP code on the program's website, imaginationlibrary.com, and may be routed to a county or city library site to finish signing up.
The Hill reported the program now serves 1 in 6 American children under the age of 5. The Washington Examiner reported that by 2024 roughly 1 in 7 U.S. children under 5 were receiving a book each month.
Timeline
Parton launches the Imagination Library for children in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she grew up. She started it as a tribute to her father, Robert Lee Parton, who never learned to read.
The program is rolled out nationally after its success in Tennessee, The Independent reported.
The program has mailed 1 million books.
It becomes a statewide program in Tennessee, according to the Washington Examiner.
The program expands to Canada in 2006, the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2013 and Ireland in 2019.
Parton visits the Library of Congress to donate the program's 100 millionth book and host a story time.
The Imagination Library marks its 30th anniversary after passing 3 million books mailed per month, up from 1 million monthly less than a decade earlier.
The Scottish Government says it will partner with the Dollywood Foundation.
Parton's family announces her death at 80.
Reactions
Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote on X that Parton's "music, storytelling, and generous spirit enriched American culture for generations," adding that "through her Imagination Library, she placed millions of books into the hands of young children and helped spark a lifelong love of reading."
The Library of Congress called Parton a "titan of children's literacy" in a tribute posted on X.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney said he was "deeply saddened" by the news. "In Scotland, her Imagination Library inspired a love of reading and provided thousands of free books for children," he wrote on X. "Her warmth, generosity and her music were truly one of a kind."
Parton herself put the program above her music career. "This one is so personal to me, I have to say, this means more to me than almost anything in my whole career," she said in 2022.
What's Next
In Utah, the Imagination Library's push is still waiting on lawmakers. The nonprofit Operation Literacy signed a formal agreement to serve as the program's official Utah partner, pending legislation, and launched a pilot to show demand, KUTV reported. The two groups started a "Raising Utah Readers" initiative asking Utah legislators to fund book access for children in the state, where about 69% of children read below grade level by third grade, according to recent data cited by the station.
In Scotland, the charity already operates in Dundee, Fife, Renfrewshire and Helensburgh, The Independent reported, following the government partnership announced in April.
More
Parton has said the program grew out of her father's illiteracy. "Daddy thought it was just something he couldn't learn after he was grown, so he never tried to learn to read and write," she said at the Library of Congress in 2018. "And that was just kind of embarrassing to him. But I didn't want Daddy to feel embarrassed."
The books earned her a nickname in Sevier County. "My daddy just loved it when all the little kids would call me 'The Book Lady,'" she said. "That meant more to him than the fact that I had become a star and worked my butt off."
Parton's philanthropy also covered disaster relief, medical research and children's hospitals, the Washington Examiner reported. Her husband, Carl Dean, died in 2025.
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