By the time Dolly Parton died on Aug. 25, 2026, her Imagination Library had gifted more than 332 million children’s books to babies and kids in all 50 states and four other countries: Canada, the U.K., Australia and Ireland.

If they were set end to end, these books would circle the earth 1.8 times.

This free program mails an age-appropriate book monthly to each enrolled child from birth to age 5, meaning up to 60 books will fill these children’s shelves by the time they graduate from the program.

Though a selection committee tweaks the lists annually, each participant receives Watty Piper’s “The Little Engine That Could” as their first book and Nancy Carlson’s “Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!” as their last.

I’m an information science professor who studies reading behavior. In my research for an upcoming academic article about the Imagination Library, I’ve found that its free monthly books help families develop children’s literacy, prepare children for kindergarten and encourage a lifelong love of reading.

Emphasis on early literacy

Parton, most remembered as a popular country singer, embraced many musical genres during her long and successful career in show business. She was also a songwriter, entrepreneur, actor and philanthropist.

She created this program because she, like most early childhood literacy experts, believed that reading begins in the home. That is, parents and other guardians are a child’s first teachers, and reading aloud to children contributes to their future literacy.

First graders who struggle with reading usually continue to have trouble with literacy later on.

Very young children in lower-income households generally have less access to books and hear fewer words than........

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