Reading 2 to 5... kids join Dolly’s library scheme
Scots debut for her free book charity
SHE is the Queen of Country – and was once cheekily hailed for possessing the ‘best chest in the West’.
Yet singer Dolly Parton maintains her greatest legacy is not her prodigious musical talent, bouffant wigs or signature rhinestone outfits, but her charity which gives free books to young children across the world.
Thousands of Scottish youngsters will this year enrol on Dolly’s ‘Imagination Library’ scheme, as Renfrewshire Council becomes the first local authority north of the Border to roll it out.
Launched in Dolly’s home state of Tennessee in 1995, it provides a new ‘high-quality, age-appropriate’ book to children aged two to five in the post every month, free of charge.
So far, more than 180 million books have been delivered to youngsters across the US, Canada and Australia. And despite having sold 100 million records, won a Grammy, been nominated for two Oscars for her songwriting and earned a fortune worth an estimated £370 million, she says it is her greatest achievement.
The singer, whose hits include 9 to 5 and Jolene, said she runs the book programme in honour of her late father, Lee Parton. She said: ‘Before he passed away my daddy told me that the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I’d ever done.
‘Now, I can’t tell you how much that meant to me because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my daddy. He was the smartest man I’ve ever known, but I knew in my heart, his inability to read probably kept him from seeing his dreams come true.
‘Inspiring kids to love to read became my mission. In the beginning my hope was to inspire the children in my home county. But here we are today with a worldwide programme that gives a book a month to over one million children.’
Started more than 26 years ago, the project arrived in the UK in 2008. Now, Renfrewshire Council has committed to launching the scheme across the region for all children aged two to five.
So far, around 2,000 children have signed up, including those at Lochwinnoch Early Learning and Childcare Class as well as a class at St Anne’s ELCC in Erskine.
Organisers say a further 3,000 youngsters could be eligible for the ‘amazing programme’.