Somewhere today a toddler is tearing open an envelope addressed to them, by name, with a picture book inside. Their family didn't pay for it. It comes every month until they turn five. That is Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, and it began with a man who never got to go to school.
A gift for her dad
Parton's father, Robert Lee Parton, could not read or write. In a 2018 interview with NPR, republished by MPR News, she said he "didn't get the chance to go to school," and that not being able to read was "kind of crippling to him." The program's own site says it was inspired by her father's "inability to read and write."
In 1995, through the Dollywood Foundation, she launched the Imagination Library in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she grew up. The idea was simple: every child from birth to age five gets a free, age-appropriate book in the mail each month, "no matter their family's income." Her ambitions were modest. "I just wanted to do something great for my dad and for my home county," she told NPR. Her father lived long enough to see it grow before he died in 2000.
How big it got
It did not stay in one county. In February 2018, Parton delivered the program's 100 millionth book to the Library of Congress, reading her picture book Coat of Many Colors to children in the Great Hall. "We never thought it would be this big," she said.
Today the program runs in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland. Its 2025 year in review counts 304,539,509 books gifted since 1995, including 40,356,668 in 2025 alone. According to the program, 1 in 7 children under five in the U.S. received a book each month in 2024.
The model is a partnership. A panel of educators and reading specialists picks the books, and a local partner in each community covers the cost, which the NPR report put at roughly $25 per child per year. Some states, Colorado among them, now run statewide programs. That's why availability depends on where you live: a ZIP code is covered only if someone local has signed on.
Does it work?
Getting books into homes is a good thing in itself, but researchers have also asked whether it changes school readiness. The answer so far is a modest yes. In September 2025, Colorado's Department of Early Childhood released an independent evaluation by the University of Denver's Colorado Evaluation & Action Lab. Children enrolled in the state program scored "0.125 standard deviations higher" on a standard early literacy test at kindergarten entry than non-participants in the same schools, and were 16 to 24 percent less likely to score "well below benchmark."
Two honest caveats. That is a small effect, not a miracle. And the release reported "no significant differences for multilingual learners or children from low-income families," the groups many hope it helps most. Families who sign up may also differ from those who don't. A free book a month is a nudge, and it works best with an adult on the couch turning the pages.
Today's act
The act: Put a book program within reach of one child you know.
- Enter your ZIP code on the Imagination Library's check availability page.
- If it's available, send the sign-up link to a new parent, a neighbor with a toddler, or your local family group chat.
- If your program has a waitlist or asks for sponsors, a small gift covers a child's books. The NPR figure was about $25 a year.
- Read to a little one this week. Our guide to teaching kids generosity has ideas for books about kindness.
Give well
Give through the local affiliate listed on the official site, not through a third-party fundraiser using Parton's name. Your local partner is usually a nonprofit or library you can look up. If your area isn't covered, ask your library or county whether anyone is working on starting a program.
Sources
- MPR News / NPR — Dolly Parton gives the gift of literacy: A library of 100 million books (March 2018)
- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library — Home
- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library — About
- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library — Year in review (2025)
- Colorado Department of Early Childhood — New study shows Imagination Library of Colorado boosts kindergarten readiness (Sept. 2025)
- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library — Check availability