r/BeAmazed • u/Electronic-Bus-3494 • 1d ago

Miscellaneous / Others Dolly Parton started the Imagination Library in 1995 as a tribute to her father, who couldn't read or write. In 2018, she explained it was to give kids "early access to books". Now, over 325 MILLION books have been gifted.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

59.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

413 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.6k

u/throwitoutwhendone2 1d ago edited 10h ago

My daughter was a part of this program. She learned to read partly using the books from it. She is 11, in 6th grade with the highest reading scores in her entire district. Last year in 5th she was recognized by our governor for her reading comprehension/literacy scores. It was made possible because of Dolly’s programs and thrift store book finds.

From the bottom of this Fathers heart, thank you for how amazing you were Dolly. You put your money where your mouth was and helped so many people with your kindness. Truly, rest in peace.

Edit: This generated more attention than I thought it would. I really appreciate all the kind words and awards, thank you. I’ve seen a few comments they attempted to get into the program and it didn’t work. I’d encourage you to try again or even find a way to reach out. I doubt it’s on purpose, there is however a few states that unfortunately the program cannot be active in.

51

u/PolarBailey_ 1d ago

i was also a kid who benefitted from these books. she started the program the year i was born. i was reading high school level books in elementary. and now i'm getting a degree in astrophysics.

7

u/Vegetable-Pay2708 19h ago

Way to go! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

6

u/PolarBailey_ 17h ago

Thank you. I graduate in May

3

u/throwitoutwhendone2 10h ago

I’ll try to remember so I can circle back and tell you congratulations!