08/26/2026
Today, the world lost an icon. But we want to remember Dolly Parton for something even greater than the songs she sang.
She put books into the hands of children. ❤️📚
Dolly could have simply enjoyed the success she earned. Instead, she looked back toward the mountains of East Tennessee where she came from and asked what she could do for the children growing up there.
In 1995, inspired by her father—who could not read or write—she started Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
It began with children in one Tennessee county.
And then it grew.
And grew.
And grew.
By June 2026, the Imagination Library had gifted more than 325 MILLION books to children around the world and was sending out more than 3.5 MILLION books every single month.
Think about that for a moment.
Millions upon millions of bedtime stories.
Millions of little hands opening packages addressed especially to them.
Millions of parents and grandparents sitting beside a child and saying, “Let’s read.”
And millions of children discovering that somewhere inside the pages of a book, they could dream of becoming anything.
Dolly Parton gave the world an extraordinary catalog of music. Her songs will be played for generations.
But perhaps her greatest legacy won't be measured in records sold, awards won, or songs remembered.
It will be measured in readers.
It will live in the children who learned to love books because someone they never met believed that every child deserved to have one.
From all of us at Wonder Hearts Press, thank you, Dolly.
Thank you for the music.
Thank you for loving your community.
Thank you for believing in children.
And most of all, thank you for reminding the rest of us just how much difference one book, placed into one child's hands, can make.
Your songs will continue to be sung.
And your legacy will continue to be read. ❤️📚
— Wonder Hearts Press
