I was so very sad to hear of the death of singer and philanthropist Dolly Parton. She was an amazing woman. Her father couldn’t read or write, and Dolly knew what a loss that was, so she set about ensuring children from poor families had access to books. Her ‘Imagination Library’ sent out over 300 million free books to young children, she supported students likely to drop out of school, encouraging them with financial rewards to stay on and discover the joy of learning, and she spoke out about the need for books in our lives.
I loved her amazing sense of humour, her tolerance of difference in our world, her generosity to so many. Dolly once said she’d rather be remembered for ‘books than looks’, and the millions of tributes from around the world are highlighting her music and her book donations, though it’s also fun to remember the incredible bosom and hair! If only we had more people in the world like Dolly Parton.
In this video, Dolly explains what motivated her to establish this reading programme.
In her memory, go and read a child a story or buy a child a book, and so carry on her incredible legacy. RIP Dolly – what a gal! Leave a comment and tell me what you are thinking.
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Helen Wood
What a wonderful story. I love that Dolly is known as the book lady. She is an inspiration