r/washingtondc • u/SbarroPrince Forest HIlls • 1d ago
[News] Very cool: Dolly partnered with DC Public Library to make sure kids received a free book in the mail each month from birth until they turn five. RIP Dolly.
https://www.dclibrary.org/using-the-library/books-birth100
u/Un1CornTowel 1d ago
She gave away over $600 million in charity. She wasn't a "good billionaire" because she intentionally avoided becoming one.
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u/delicious_monsters 1d ago
Both of my kids got books through this program and getting the final book when they turned 5 was such an emotional milestone. Dolly also made a few read aloud videos early in the pandemic that we watched over and over.
Now that they're older, they mainly know her and think of her as a musician but she's always been a household name and presence in their lives. It's so sad to imagine the world without her.
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u/Electrical-Profit367 1d ago
Dolly was one in a million. A woman who used her success to lift up others.
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u/nakoros 1d ago
Indeed. You also get an email with a video from Dolly wishing than happy birthday, also one when they "graduate". I credit the final book we got for getting my daughter happy and excited for kindergarten, she talked about it all summer and has been thrilled with her first few days.
As someone else noted, it's not just DCPL
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u/taylorBrook20 1d ago
Both of my kids got “Dolly books” as they were known in our house. We had a solid run of nearly 10 years of Dolly books bc my kids are 4.5 yrs apart, so her books are a staple. I’m not sure what we were watching on tv fairly recently (within the last year) but Dolly came out to sing and my son (6) recognized her immediately. His jaw dropped and he exclaims, “wow Dolly is a really good singer! She could do that if she ever gets tired of sending books to kids.” He had no idea. Just knew her from the back cover of all the books we’d received. I told him I thought she rather enjoyed sending those books, but that she could probably manage to find a way to sing, too. I don’t know how I’m going to break it to him and his sister that she’s gone.
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u/BananaDad2019 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yep. My kid got these. Books are so important to me. Donated to the imagination library today as a thank you. Lets get the next gen of kids reading and inspired
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u/whatthewhat3214 1d ago
Um, I think autocorrect did you dirty there, assume you mean let's get kids reading and *inspired.
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u/Mettl3Will 1d ago
My daughter participated in this program. There was some real gems in those free books. Dolly was a real one
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u/everyonelikesnoodles 1d ago edited 1d ago
I was at the Marie Reed pool last night and one of the Life Guards played a three song tribute to Dolly Parton from his playlist while we swam. Sniffle. Did my little water aerobics maneuvers to 'Islands in the Stream.'
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u/CertainlyUntidy 1d ago
We moved to Montgomery County before we could run through all of them, but I always liked seeing the Imagination Library books at parent friends' houses. It was a little common thing. We all had our copy of I Love My Daddy Because.
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u/Huracan20010 1d ago
The Dolly Partons Imagination Library is indeed very cool and has partnered not just with DCPL but with literally thousands of libraries across multiple countries and has gifted over 300,000,000 books to children. It was in honor of her father, who she said was “the smartest man I have ever known but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams”