Sevierville, TN – Long before she was a global music icon, Dolly Parton was the daughter of a hardworking man who carried a secret shame: he couldn’t read or write. This painful reality for her beloved father, Robert Lee Parton, became the driving force behind one of the most impactful and far-reaching literacy initiatives in the world, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
The story of the Imagination Library is not just about books; it’s a tale of love, empathy, and the profound belief in the power of stories to change lives. Parton has often shared the heartbreak of watching her intelligent and diligent father navigate a world where literacy was a barrier, feeling a sense of inadequacy despite his many strengths. “My Daddy was so smart but he felt crippled with the fact that he couldn’t read and write,” Parton has stated.
That deep-seated desire to honor her father and to ensure other children wouldn’t face the same obstacles sparked a revolutionary idea. In 1995, in her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee, Parton launched the Imagination Library. The premise was simple yet profound: to mail a free, high-quality, age-appropriate book every month to every registered child from birth until their fifth birthday.
Parton’s vision was to instill a love of reading from the earliest possible age, opening up a universe of knowledge and opportunity that her father never had. “I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my Daddy,” Parton wrote on the official Imagination Library website. “Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done.” He lived long enough to see the program’s initial success and to hear the local children affectionately call his daughter “the Book Lady.”
What began as a local initiative has since blossomed into a global phenomenon. The Imagination Library has expanded its reach far beyond the hills of East Tennessee. As of June 2025, the program has gifted over 284 million books to children across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland. The program now mails over 3 million books each month.
This remarkable achievement is a living testament to Parton’s dedication and a powerful tribute to the man who inspired it all. The Imagination Library is more than just a philanthropic endeavor; it’s a legacy of love, turning the quiet struggle of one man into a symphony of learning for millions of children worldwide, one book at a time.
