A book a month
Dolly Parton lauded for her Arkansas Imagination Library nonprofit
Gov. Asa Hutchinson could not contain his excitement when he welcomed country music superstar Dolly Parton to the Governor’s Mansion on May 5.
“I am probably more excited about this than anytime I’ve had to introduce anyone in the world,” Hutchison said. “This is Dolly Parton!”
Parton was in Little Rock in honor of the state’s supporters of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. It provides books free of charge each month to children from birth to age 5, through funding shared by Parton and community partners in every county in Arkansas. The books are also available in many other states and countries. In 2020, the program gave away its 150 millionth book.
After introducing her, the governor unveiled a plaque proclaiming May 5 as Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Day in Arkansas.
Parton then sat down with KTHV, Channel 11 anchor Craig O’Neill who introduced himself as “Arkansas’ best known sex symbol.” O’Neill interviewed Parton on stage for about 20 minutes.
Parton told the crowd she grew up as one of 12 siblings in rural Tennessee.
“My daddy didn’t get a chance to go to school. He couldn’t read or write,” she said. “But he was such a smart man. That bothered him and he felt like he couldn’t learn it when he was grown, but I just saw my dad kind of be troubled with it.
“And I remember the Scripture in the Bible saying ‘honor your father and your mother’ and I took that to mean more than to just bring honor to them or just to obey them.”
In honor of her father, she started the Imagination Library in 1995,
After the interview, Parton performed two songs for the crowd — her 1968 hit “A Coat of Many Colors” and “Try,” a song she wrote as the theme song of the Imagination Library.