A month after Dolly Parton’s death, her free book program for young children is expanding.
The program, which sends children an age-appropriate book in the mail every month from birth until their 5th birthday, aims to make books more accessible and encourage families to read together.
Last week the Dollywood Foundation announced that Parton’s Imagination Library would expand to reach 157,000 children across London.
Parton started the organization in 1995 in honor of her father, who couldn’t read or write but was “one of the smartest people” she knew, as Parton often said. Her idea was to bring books and a love of learning to children in her home county in eastern Tennessee.
The Imagination Library has reached families across the United States and in Canada, Britain, Australia and Ireland, gifting more than 300 million free books. A representative with the Dollywood Foundation told The Washington Post that more expansions are in the works.
“She built things that could keep doing good in the world,” Dollywood Foundation President Jeff Conyers said in a statement after Parton’s death. “Our responsibility now is to care for what she entrusted to us.”
Studies looking at the impact of the Imagination Library suggest that children who received the books were more likely to be read to and demonstrate more emerging literacy skills.
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The post Dolly Parton’s free book program for children is expanding after her death appeared first on Washington Post.
