Dolly Parton: The Book Lady
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By Donna Liquori -- School Library Journal, 5/6/2009 2:10:00 PM
For the last 13 years, country music icon Dolly Parton has been immersed in her literacy program, Imagination Library, which provides one book each month to registered preschoolers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
With six million books mailed each year, Imagination Library recently teamed up with Rotary International to encourage individual Rotary clubs to cover the cost of new volumes and shipping.
School Library Journal asked Parton, who also has a children’s book I am a Rainbow (Putnam) due out this spring, to talk about her inspiration for Imagination Library and the impact it’s had on her and her many young members.
How valuable was the experience of having your mother read to you as a child?
Well, we really never had any books around the house except for the Bible and the Sears catalogue—and the catalogue was ripped apart in no time at all. My mother would pull me up on her lap and read to me the stories from the Old Testament. Those Bible stories took me to faraway places and let me imagine a world far beyond our mountain home. This memory was the inspiration for the Imagination Library.
Did you ever think it would get this big?
I never, ever dreamed this little program would become so huge. And as it has grown, so has my vision for it. I think the tipping point came when Gov. [Phil] Bredesen of Tennessee asked me if we could work together to bring this to every child in the state. That’s when I thought this could be really big. Since then we have moved to two other countries [Canada and the U.K.].
Tell us about your new partnership with Rotary International.
Rotary has done so many wonderful things for children, and they do things in a big way, so I do think that with their help we can go from mailing millions of books to mailing tens of millions of books.
What connection does the Imagination Library have to school or public libraries?
Thankfully, a good connection. We want to be a partner with libraries, to inspire a love of books that will hopefully become a love of libraries, too. We even have a good many school systems that sponsor the program; they see it as a great way to help their kids get a jump on learning.
Did you ever think you'd be called “The Book Lady?”
I have been called a lot of things but there was a time in my life when the Book Lady wasn’t one of them! Honestly, it is an honor to be called the Book Lady. There’s even a Canadian film out now about me called the Book Lady. They did a great job of capturing the essence of the Imagination Library and my role in it.
Why have you said that the Imagination Library may be one of the most important things you’ve done?
You never know what people are going to think about what you have done or just how you will be remembered. Some people come up to me and tell me how a song I wrote helped them through a desperate time or allowed them to see through all of the clutter in their life. Songwriting is special that way; you just never know what impact a song will have on people. The Imagination Library is the same way. The letters I receive will just bring you to tears 'cause they tell me how important the books are to their kids. So maybe that’s what doing something important is—it’s leaving folks with a song or a book or a kind word to help their light shine.
Why is early childhood literacy so important to you?
In the beginning, all I ever hoped to do was to inspire kids to love books, pure and simple. What I discovered is a huge group of people and organizations who are so committed to helping kids at an early age. I do what I can but in all 1,000 communities we work in there are hundreds of people in every community who raise money to pay for the books, register the children, and do so much more to give their kids the best start in the world. I stand in amazement of all of their love and dedication.
How do kids react to the books?
I always thought that if we wanted kids to think that books are special then the books have to make the kids feel special—and that is exactly what has happened. Kids love gifts and they love mail so when you put the two together you get what we hoped would happen—children are excited about books. Kids run up to me all the time and thank me for the books. It’s the cutest, sweetest thing in the world. Lots of them ask me why they can’t get a book every single day or they think I personally put the book in the mailbox.
The Little Engine That Could—the first book a child receives from the Imagination Library—was also your favorite book growing up.
I grew up in a place and in a time where very few people believed that I could be a singer and songwriter. I never doubted that I would one day live my dream. The Little Engine believed in itself—that’s why I liked it then and why I love it now. It’s a wonderful message for any child.
What are some of your other favorite children’s books now?
The most popular book in the Imagination Library is Llama, Llama Red Pajama [Viking, 2005 by Anna Dewdney] but I like them all. I can’t play favorites!
You’re obviously a huge fan of kids and love being around them.
I have bushels of nieces and nephews, and I just love them to death. They call me Aunt Granny and I do what an Aunt Granny does—I read to them, cook for them, hug on them and brag on them. Lately most of my reading time with Imagination Library kids has been at large public events. It’s fun. You still see how magical the moment can be, but it’s a little stifled because of all the people and cameras.
Does the program take on even a greater importance given the state of today’s economy?
We worry that communities may start to feel that they can’t afford to sponsor the Imagination Library any longer. I sure hope that doesn’t happen because we need more joy in homes, not less. And I know one thing the Imagination Library does is to provide over a half million families every month at least one joyful moment.
Your father couldn’t read or write, but he told you he was very proud of the Imagination Library.
We lost Daddy just a few years ago, but he lived long enough to see the Imagination Library become a big deal. He thought it was just the greatest thing that kids called me the Book Lady—and I know he had a laugh or two about it 'cause he knew I wasn’t exactly an honor student when I was in school. Both my Daddy and my Momma always had a pretty good idea about what is important in life, so they knew that fame and fortune are nice but if you do good with some of your money, then success is that much sweeter.
