Dolly Parton, the queen of country music, is also the queen of children's literacy.
The country music legend has made it her mission to improve literacy and book accessibility through her Imagination Library book giveaway program. Parton's program has taken on a life of its own, expanding across the U.S. in Missouri and Kentucky where children under five can sign up to have books delivered monthly to their homes for free. These are just two of the 21 states that Imagination Library services across the country.
“The Imagination Library has meant as much, if not more, to me than nearly anything that I have done,” Parton said Tuesday at an event with Gov. Andy Beshear at the Lyric Theater in Lexington, Kentucky. During the event, the legend was made a Kentucky Colonel, "a title of honor given by the governor recognizing someone’s achievements and service," the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Parton's literacy mission is rooted in her family history. She shared at another event at the Folly Theater in Kansas City, Missouri, that her father, Robert Lee Parton grew up poor in Tennessee and never had the opportunity to learn how to read, The Associated Press reported.
"In the mountains, a lot of people never had a chance to go to school because they had to work on the farms. They had to do whatever it took to keep the rest of the family going," she shared.
Parton grew up one of 12 children in a poor Appalachian family in Tennessee. Despite Parton saying her father was “one of the smartest people I’ve ever known,” she said he was embarrassed that he couldn’t read.
This is the reason the star created the Imagination Library. The program started in Tennessee in 1995 and began in only one county in the state. But now it services 21 states, and over 3 million books are delivered to children every month. Nearly 30 years since it began, the program has sent books to more than 240 million kids in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.
Parton has expanded her Imagination Library in states like Missouri where child literacy rates are between 28% and 30%, slightly under the national average of 32% and 29%. Missouri also covers the full $11 million cost program. However, in Kentucky, where 69% of 4th graders are not proficient in reading, the program will now reach children in the state's 120 counties, Beshear said Tuesday.
Kentucky First Lady Britainy Beshear said that more than 120,000 Kentucky children will be enrolled to receive books through the program.
Parton said, "It’s really a great way to teach children when they’re very young to learn to love books and to learn to read."
Eventually, Parton said she wanted to see the Imagination Library in every state across the country. While every state has an Imagination Library program, only 21 states have ratified legislation, ensuring all kids under five can enroll.
"The kids started calling me the 'book lady,'" Parton said. "And Daddy was more proud of that than he was that I was a star. But Daddy got to feeling like he had really done something great as well."
