Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Distributed 300 Million Books to 3 Million Children
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Aug 29
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Distributed 300 Million Books to 3 Million Children
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Aug 29
Summary
More than 300 million free books had been mailed by 2025 through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a literacy program that now reaches well over 3 million children worldwide each month.
Started in 1995 in Tennessee as a tribute to Parton’s father, who could not read or write, the program sends one book a month to children from birth to age five.
The scheme expanded across the US in 2000, then into Canada, the UK, Australia and Ireland through local partners, with the organization saying it mails one book every 78 seconds.
Families in the US, UK, Ireland and Australia said the books helped build reading routines, support speech and emotional development, and expose children to diverse stories and identities.
Parton, who died this week at 80, left the library as a global legacy that supporters say will keep introducing younger generations to reading.