{"id":345915,"date":"2026-09-13T23:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T23:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/345915\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T23:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T23:44:09","slug":"ny-state-joins-in-special-touching-tribute-to-dolly-parton-and-her-imagination-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/345915\/","title":{"rendered":"NY state joins in special touching tribute to Dolly Parton and her Imagination Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York state is buying books from Dolly Parton\u2019s library charity to distribute to kids under age 5 in a touching fitting tribute <\/a>to the late country-music icon\u2019s literacy legacy.<\/p>\n

The state Office of Children and Family Services is seeking two \u201csolicitations of interest,\u201d or proposals, from not-for-profit entities including school districts and even hospitals to join it in buying up and donating books <\/a>from Parton\u2019s \u201cImagination Library.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary Lane Haskell, left, and Dolly Parton appear in \u201cDolly Parton\u2019s Mountain Magic Christmas\u201d on Sunday, August 21, 2022. Katherine Bomboy\/NBC via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The state will pay 50% of costs up to $50,000 in each instance to purchase<\/a> the books and then also cover mailing costs to provide eligible children up to age 5 with a \u00a0book per month.<\/p>\n

The winning bidders would cover the remaining costs.<\/p>\n

Parton\u2019s Imagination Library handles administrative costs and negotiates better prices with children\u2019s publishers for its supply.<\/p>\n

The beloved mega-star singer died at age 80 on Aug. 25 after a short bout with cancer.<\/p>\n

Parton, whose father was illiterate, started her Imagination Library in 1995 for the children within her home county in Tennessee. The program took off and expanded throughout the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland with government support.<\/p>\n

Singer Dolly Parton reads her book, \u201cThe Coat of Many Colors,\u201d to schoolchildren at The Library of Congress on Tuesday, February 27, 2018. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Literacy is such a priority that even New York hospitals bid to deliver books from the Parton Library to parents of newborns, according to prior awards issued by the state in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am considering applying<\/a> for your Solicitation of Interest for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, on behalf of a children\u2019s hospital. I envision enrolling every child delivered at our hospital and admitted to the Mother-Baby Unit within the one-year time frame,\u201d a bidder wrote.<\/p>\n

The winning bidders must enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library to participate.<\/p>\n

According to the Parton website, 332.4 million books have been distributed <\/a>to kids since its inception.<\/p>\n

Nearly 3.2 million kids are currently registered to receive books.<\/p>\n

Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library is seen in the Historic District of Punta Gorda, Florida. Jeffrey Greenberg\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n

One in six children in the US have received books from the Parton Library.<\/p>\n

About 170,000 New York children receive monthly books from the library, said state Sen. Jeremy Cooney (D-Rochester), who has annually pushed for state grants to help pump funding into Parton\u2019s Imagination Library program.<\/p>\n

\u201cDolly\u2019s impact extends far beyond her musical talent, with her Imagination Library providing free monthly books to over 170,000 children in New York, supporting childhood literacy and bringing joy to families,\u201d Cooney said amid a push to make Sept. 25 in New York Dolly Parton Day.<\/p>\n

On her website, Parton said the children\u2019s library may be her greatest legacy beyond all her success as an award-winning singer and entertainer.<\/p>\n

Dolly Parton reads \u201cThe Little Engine That Could\u201d online for \u201cGoodnight with Dolly\u201d during the COVID-19 lockdown. Dolly Parton Imagination Library\/YouTube via ZUMA Wire \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done,\u2019\u2019 Parton wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t tell you how much that meant to me because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my Daddy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe 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,\u201d Parton said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York state is buying books from Dolly Parton\u2019s library charity to distribute to kids under age 5…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2878,4207,30608,208,57,9,11,10,49,51,50,51259,58],"class_list":["post-345915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-books","tag-children","tag-dolly-parton","tag-literacy","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-preschools","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}