How 'Book Queen' Dolly Parton inspired millions of children with gift of reading

Dolly Parton, affectionately known as "The Book Queen" by one Denver child and "Ms. Dolly" by another in Alabama, launched the Imagination Library in her home county in Tennessee. This literacy program, which sends a free book a month to children from birth to age five, has touched millions globally. For instance, in Australia, a toddler with speech delays uttered her first word, "orange," after receiving a book about colors from the Imagination Library, delighting her family.

Parton, who passed away this week at 80, initiated this philanthropic endeavor in 1995 to honor her father. His challenging Appalachian upbringing prevented him from completing school or learning to read and write. Parton expressed on the Imagination Library's website, "He was the smartest man I have ever known, but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams." She added, "Inspiring kids to love to read became my mission."

The Imagination Library began in Sevier County, Tennessee, where Parton grew up, before expanding across the US in 2000. The program, which collaborates with local organizations, launched in Canada in 2006, the UK in 2007, Australia in 2013, and Ireland in 2019. By 2025, celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Imagination Library had distributed over 300 million books, sending one book every 78 seconds.

For recipient families, the program's impact has been invaluable. Harriet Anscombe, a London mother of two, enrolled her daughter at three months old. Her four-year-old has been receiving books ever since. Anscombe remarked, "It just blows my mind that it's readily available for every family that lives in my borough." The free books helped her establish a reading-focused nighttime routine. "I think that, if I didn't get those books, maybe I wouldn't have started doing bedtime stories till she was two - but because we were getting them so early, it embedded story time into our routine from when she was just a couple of months old," Anscombe explained. "She probably doesn't remember a time when we weren't reading stories."

In Colorado, Ciara Fernandez Faber's son, Aster, who called Parton "the Book Queen," also integrated the Imagination Library into their family routine after enrolling about eight years ago. His favorite book for years was Parton's "I Am A Rainbow." Faber, 42, shared, "We read it almost every night, and I never got tired of reading it to him." She added, "It's a book about different emotions, and so we would act out the different emotions, the different faces... At the back of the book, there's a little excerpt by Dolly talking about how everybody has a rainbow of feelings, and we would read that - and he would always point to her picture and say, 'There's the Book Queen.'"

Families consistently praised the books' curation, noting how topics aided children not only with reading but also with social and emotional development. Helen Cashell of Dublin, Ireland, who enrolled her two children, now seven and five, said, "There were themes that were addressed in a lot of the books that would have really helped us navigate issues... Whether it was same-sex families or just different types of families, things about bravery, courage, bullying, things about different identities."

Author Selina Brown, whose book "My Rice Is Best" was chosen for distribution, highlighted the inclusion of a black protagonist. The program also promotes authors like herself, resulting in "14,000 copies of my book have been sent to children in the UK." Brown emphasized the program's importance, stating, "To choose between gas, electric, food or a book, you're going to choose a core need - but with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, you don't have to do that."

In inner-city Sydney, Australia, first-time mother Paige Stewart witnessed her twin girls, now four, make significant progress. They "had a speech delay and some learning difficulties," but Stewart observed a change after just the second book. "Not only did they learn their colours from that book… it kind of set the tone for them speaking and their joy for books." She has become a vocal advocate, telling others, "It's so helpful, honestly."

Kristina Hadley, a 53-year-old grandmother from Alabama, also champions the program, even incorporating Imagination Library into baby gifts. "I'll pull up the Imagination books website, and I'll print that, and I'll put it in a picture frame, and I'll get little newborn books and stuff like that, and I'll put it with that for like a suggestion for new mothers," Hadley explained. She enrolled her nearly three-year-old granddaughter, Eillie Elaine, "before she was actually born." Eillie now has her own bookshelf, with "one whole shelf is for her Dolly books." Hadley recounted, "She likes to go to go to the mailbox, and she's like, 'Ms Dolly! Ms Dolly!' and I'm like, 'Well, let's go see if Ms Dolly sent you a book!'" A lifelong Parton fan, Hadley became emotional discussing Parton's passing, stating that Imagination Library "is going to keep her memory going with the younger generation, and I hope and I pray that this is something that goes on for years and years and years."

This legacy was built quietly by Parton while she remained a pop culture icon for over six decades. Geoff Blacklin, 67, of Manitoba, Canada, whose grandchildren are enrolled, noted, "The biggest thing that I like is the fact that she didn't do anything for recognition." He added, "She gave families more than books. She gave children a love of reading, precious moments with loved ones, and opportunities to learn and dream."

Such stories of family and gratitude would have resonated deeply with Parton, as the program's expansion was a realization of her own dream. On the Imagination Library site, she wrote, "In the beginning, my hope was simply to inspire the children in my home county, but here we are today with a worldwide programme that gives a book a month to well over 3 million children," also thanking the partners "who have embraced my dream and made it their own." At its core, the program was driven by her love for children and her father. Parton shared, "Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done. I can't tell you how much that meant to me, because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my Daddy."