When most people think of Dolly Parton they think of her flash Country persona, her anatomy (sorry, but it’s true), her starring in Nine to Five (if you’re as old as me) or her Islands In The Stream song with Kenny Rogers (ah ah!). In Nashville, TN. we often associate Dolly with her Disney-esque theme park, Dollywood.

Around my house we know Dolly for her as the Book Lady. Each month my two kids (both under five) receive a free book from Dolly! The books are always excellent and age appropriate. It’s always a pleasant surprise when the books arrive from Dolly’s Imagination Library.

Take a glance at this:

In 1996, Dolly Parton launched an exciting new effort to benefit the children of her home county in east Tennessee. Dolly wanted to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families. She wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. Moreover, she could insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.

So she decided to mail a brand new, age appropriate book each month to every child under 5 in Sevier County. With the arrival of every child’s first book, the classic The Little Engine That Could ™, every child could now experience the joy of finding their very own book in their mail box. These moments continue each month until the child turns 5—and in their very last month in the program they receive Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come.

Needless to say the experience has been a smashing success. So much so that many other communities clamored to provide the Imagination Library to their children. Dolly thought long and hard about it and decided her Foundation should develop a way for other communities to participate. The Foundation asked a blue ribbon panel of experts to select just the right books and secured Penguin Group USA to be the exclusive publisher for the Imagination Library. Moreover a database was built to keep track of the information.

What’s great is that this program is now spreading to different states, provinces and countries. You can find out how to get free books for your community’s little ones here: http://www.dollysimaginationlibrary.com. How cool is this program?

Now whenever the new books arrive both of my kids scream THANK YOU DOLLY PARTON!