DollyParton and the Imagination Library have received numerous awards for inspiring a love for reading among children everywhere, including the Library of Congress Literacy Award. Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write Dolly started her Imagination Library in 1995 for the children within her home county. Today, her program spans five countries and gifts millions of free books each month to children around the world. · Today, DollyParton’s Imagination Library has mailed more than 230 million books to children worldwide. The program currently operates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia. · After three decades, DollyParton's Imagination Library continues to make an incredible impact: Each child enrolled from birth will receive a personal library of 60 books by the time they turn five. The Imagination Library currently gifts more than 3 million books monthly—roughly one every second. · Every month, approximately 3 million children across the United States and Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom receive a free book in the mail. Based on a February 2025 analysis, the project has now delivered over 270 million books. DollyParton’s Imagination Library became a statewide program in Indiana in 2023. It increased enrolled children and the state paid 1⁄2 the cost of books and postage. Today, this inspirational program spans five countries, and has provided 213 million books to 2.5 million children around the world, along with parent resources. Parents, caregivers and other experts know that building language is fundamental to a child's development.
